Silence is no Virtue
by Arista Lycoris
Summary: Shirai is a young woman who is cursed. She can feel nothing and can say nothing, so what happens when Yuuko forces her to go along with them? What happens between Shirai and her new friends when she can't even tell they're her friends? Fai/FyeXOC
1. Silent Forever

"_You will be mine," he muttered, reaching out to me, his arm fully extended, hand and fingers uncurled, ready to grab me and claim me as his own, "You can not escape the mark. It will always be there!"_

I woke with a start and immediately fingered my throat, frowning. My fingers soon moved to my necklace, holding it, reassuring my mind that it was still there. I shook my head, blue-black hair falling messily in my face. It would have ended up there anyway, my shoulder length hair was always used to hide my face. I exhaled a bit, attempting to blow it back, but failed. My yawn was soundless as I gingerly got out of my comfortable bed in order to shower and change. Lazily, I left my pajamas on the floor after my hot shower. I walked outside for my morning jog, except, I didn't feel like jogging, so instead I continued being lazy and walked around, still groggy from sleep despite the shower and upset about my dream, or more accurately named, nightmarish memory.

By the time I had returned to my small home, the sun was already half way into the sky, its light tinted green by the jungle leaves. It would be very humid later on, so I decided to have fruit and water for breakfast. It would be nice, cool, and wouldn't irritate my stomach later when it grew so humid that I wouldn't want to eat anything.

Technology was a wonderful thing, it kept my food cold. When I had first come to the strange place I was living in, I discovered technology. Where I was from was so far behind in development that light still came from candles. Here, even though I lived alone in the jungle, I was still supplied with electricity and running water, wonderful technology that kept my food cold and my house lit. Of course, it wasn't free, I made a living by growing and selling spices and medicinal herbs. I went to town once a week, sold what I could, and once a month paid my bills. No one came to visit me, they didn't know where I lived, nor did I speak to anyone. I only answered with nods and shakes of my head and occasionally a shrug of my shoulders. No one knew me, so I never had visitors, which was nice in its own way. Never having to deal with idiots asking questions with obvious answers was nice.

As I began to remove a small assortment of home-grown fruits from my refrigerator, I heard a loud crash from my front yard. Quickly, I put my fruit down, closed the fridge door, and ran outside. Sprawled across my 'lawn' were four, strangely dressed people, and what looked like a strange plush toy. Three were male, and the female was either dead or unconscious.

Frowning again, I grabbed the strange plush toy and glared angrily at the trespassers. Holding a hand up signaling for them to wait, I walked inside and glared at the plush: Mokona Modoki. It continued to smile happily, but quickly realized what I wanted it to do. A purple circle formed above its head, with a pale, black-haired woman inside.

"Shirai-san!" the dimensional witch, Yuuko, announced smiling slightly, "It's good to see you well." I continued glaring, and finally she sighed, "Yes, I sent those people there. Not including Mokona there should be four, would you mind taking care of them for me?"

"Shirai-san says you'll owe her one for doing that!" Mokona announced, it was one of his one hundred eight secret skills: Extreme Understanding of Shirai! Or something like that.

Yuuko sighed, "Well, I know how much you hate staying in one place for a long period of time, so why don't you go traveling to different worlds with them? I won't take your most precious belonging as part of the trade. Besides, the girl has quite a sad tale that I'm sure you'd be interested in hearing." I thought it over for a minute, then nodded, "Mokona, you'll have to explain everything to the others." Mokona nodded at Yuuko's request and the circle disappeared. I lifted the plush again and opened my front door, the three males were utterly confused. I threw Mokona at them gently and motioned for them to enter my house.

The tallest of the three males was the one who caught Mokona. He had black hair, beady red eyes, and was slightly tanned. He seemed to be constantly pissed off as well, and as he stood I noted with a frown the way he slouched. He was obviously a fighter, most likely skilled with a sword.

The next tallest was a blond, I couldn't see what color his eyes were, for they were closed. He seemed to be the exact opposite of the first, always happy and wore white and blue in contrast to the other man's black and red wardrobe. He was already shedding his ridiculously furry coat, and I noticed that he too was a fighter, somewhat. He seemed to be a bit closer to my style, hand to hand combat, but able to use a weapon if necessary, however he was carrying a staff, so I decided that he could probably use magic as well, something I couldn't.

The last of the guys was a bit shorter than me, and probably younger as well. He was dressed as if he lived in a desert, with beige pants, a black shirt, green cape, goggles and boots. His hair was short, brown and spiky, his eyes the same color, but seemed to be tinted with a bit of sadness, as if he's been through something terrible before. He too was capable of fighting, though he obviously favored using his feet only. Not once had he let go of the girl that was unconscious. She too had short brown hair, although hers was quite a few shades lighter, and a similar style of dress, hers more feminine and regal. Her clothes were beige and pink, and showed a bit of her stomach, but that was probably normal in a place as hot as a desert.

I however, wore a white shirt, with on long sleeve on the left arm and no sleeve on the right, with black pants and boots. Simple, just they way I wanted my clothing to be.

Mokona jumped about, coming in before they could, and I opened my fridge once more. This time I removed enough fruit for all but the girl, I didn't think she would be waking up anytime soon. Mokona sat on my small table, while on the blond took a chair. Opening its mouth wide the plush toy shouted, "This is Shirai! She's Yuuko's friend and is going to be helping us gather Sakura's feathers! Yay!" The white fluff jumped at me, but I stopped him with my hand and placed him back on the table.

"Oh? I'm Fye D. Flowright," the blond introduced himself, opening his eyes to look me over, revealing blue orbs, one more thing contradictory in comparison to the other man, "With me are Syaoran-kun, Sakura-chan, and Kurorin."

I raised an eyebrow at the strange name, but the dark haired man began to shout loudly and angrily, "Who the hell is that? It's Kurogane, damn it!"

I looked at Mokona and he quickly spoke for me, "Shirai says to eat quickly so we can go to the next world!" While we were all eating; Kurogane complaining about the lack of meat; Syaoran informed me of Sakura's tale. Something had happened in their world, where she was a princess, and she had lost her memories, that had taken the form of feathers. I nodded occasionally to show that I was listening, and Mokona spoke for me a few times as well.

Once they had all finished eating, Mokona sprouted wings, and teleported us elsewhere. I was the only one who arrived in the new word awake and standing. After a few minutes Kurogane and Fye woke as well, then finally Syaoran. They spoke for a moment about how Syaoran hadn't let go of Sakura even once while he was out cold. Then they came up with a few more nicknames for Kurorin, pissing him off some more.

"Ah! You've got to get out of here! It's going to get dangerous very soon!" we all turned to see a strange kid, shorter than Syaoran, with black hair, and beady eyes, running toward us, "There's going to be a battle!"

For the first time we looked around us, and we saw that we were in the middle of what looked like the beginning of a gang fight, only none of them had weapons, or seemed like they knew martial arts. The strange kid ushered us behind an old car, explaining that the people of this country all had a thing called a Kudan, the stronger one's heart was, the stronger their Kudan. Just as we all ducked down, the two gangs, one made up of people wearing goggles, the other of people with Mohawks, began to battle, shooting strange spheres of power from their fists.

I had been so distracted by the strange way of fighting that I hadn't noticed Fye give Syaoran a strange looking feather. I did notice, however, when it flew out of his hand due to a stray power blast from one of the gang members. Immediately he chased after it, I sighed, knowing that both gangs, or at least one, would assume he was a member of the other. The Mohawks did and began firing at him. Some of the strange blasts came towards us once again as Syaoran grabbed the feather out of the air. We all ducked down, and as we did so, a strange dark sphere encircled us, protecting us from the stray balls of power. When we all looked up, we say that Syaoran has a strange flaming creature by his side.

"Uwah! he's got a Kudan too! A top level one at that!" he strange boy said loudly, then he turned to me, "You do too! You both must have strong hearts." Standing at my side was a large black wolf with flowing fur, snarling in the direction of the two gangs. Instead of crouching down, I stood as well, my Kudan coming up to my shoulder. I pushed a bit of hair from my face, and watched as the leader of the gang with the goggles challenged Syaoran, but before anything good could happen, sirens went off, and the goggles guy ran off with his gang. Moments later a couple approached us.

"Ah, we finally found you," the man said, his hair was dark brown, as were his eyes, and the woman with him had long black hair and black eyes, "We knew you'd be coming so…" I tuned them out. My Kudan disappeared, and I stared off into space. Syaoran had given the feather to Sakura, and it had been absorbed into her chest. The random turn of events was reminding me of things that I'd rather not be reminded of.

At most, I heard the two people's names: Arashi was the woman, and Sorata the man. They also knew Yuuko, and because Arashi had spiritual powers or whatnot, she was able to sense our coming, and because they owed a debt to Yuuko, they had agreed to take us in. The exact opposite of the way I was dragged into the mess that was Sakura's lost memories.

I stared out the window that night as Arashi and Sorata spoke to the guys, Mokona sat in my lap, since I was too lazy to push him away. After they had left, Kurorin turned to look at me, though it seemed more like he was glaring. I raised an eyebrow, daring him with my eyes to speak his mind. Fye noticed the imaginary sparks flying and smiled wider, "Kuro-pyon! Why don't you just ask Rai-chan what you want to ask?"

Kurogane glanced at him, glaring angrily, before returning his gaze to me. I kept my face as expressionless as it normally was, unless I was irritated. Finally he asked, "Do you talk?"

I shook me head and tapped Mokona so he could speak for me, answering the question that had yet to be asked, "Shirai-rai isn't able to talk! Something happened to her voice in her home world! Before she left!"

"Why did you leave?" Syaoran asked from where he was sitting next to Sakura, holding her hand. I shrugged, looking out of the window again. It wasn't any of their business why I left or any other thing that may or may not have happened to me during my life. There weren't involved, so it was none of their concern. I continued staring into the sky until they had all fallen asleep.

"_I will have you!" he shouted, his hands on my shoulders, gripping so hard it was painful, "You have no choice!"_

_I slapped his hands away from me, glaring, "I have every choice."_

"_You will regret those words," he sneered, "They will be your last, but I will not kill you, no, there is something far worse than that lying in wait for you."_

_My glare hardened, becoming so full of anger and so fierce, that any other would have backed down, but he was not any other. The spoiled brat wanted something and he was determined to get it, through the hard works and sacrifices of others._

I woke before the other three that were able to wake, but only moments before. Sorata came running in, waking them up himself, while I just looked on, feeling nothing, "Wake up! Wake up!" he shouted, "We have clothes for all of you!"

Immediately I woke Mokona, and he spoke for me again, "Shirai-rai won't wear skirts or dresses!" he announced loudly, "She wasn't to know if she can keep wearing what she already is."

"I think it would be best if you had a sleeveless shirt, or a long sleeved one instead," Arashi spoke, standing behind her husband.

"She wants to see! Wants to see!" Mokona shouted happily, its smiling face next to my emotionless one. Arashi nodded, so I left Mokona and followed her out, into another room. She removed a few pairs of pants and some shirts from a dresser, then decided to leave the room so I could dress. I eventually chose a pair of blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and a white dress shirt to go over it. Before I put the white shirt on, for a few moments only, I stared at the strange mark upon my left arm. The markings twisted and turned in an ornate, and almost delicate way, even though it symbolized strength.

I shook my head a bit, then put the shirt on, and walked out of the room.

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R&R please or I might not write the second chapter.


	2. She's Gone

The other three were already dressed by the time I walked out of the other room. We walked outside, Mokona jumping over to Fye as we did so. Sorata then handed Syaoran a small frog shaped purse, "Money for food."

"Why are you giving it to that brat?" Kurorin asked, glaring as always.

"He seems like the most level headed of you three, and I think she would stop eating if she could," he replied, winking at me. I said nothing, even if I could have I wouldn't have, my face remained emotionless. Sorata sighed, "You guys should find a way to get her to lighten up."

Mokona opened his mouth to say something, but I sent him a glare that quickly shut him up. Apparently Mokona had sensed another feather yesterday, while I wasn't paying attention, and could now lock on to the feather's unique magical signature, so of course, Syaoran wanted to go look for the feather.

We paused on a bridge and Syaoran began talking about looking for the feather or something, and not leaving until he found it and gave it back to Sakura. Kurogane decided to act nonchalant and say, "It's none of my business. I'm not helping."

"Well, as long as I don't get hurt, I'll help," Fye contradicted the taller man once again, his smile never faltering.

"Mokona will help too! I won't go to another world until we've found all the feathers in this one!" he shouted, jumping at Kurorin. Syaoran looked at me and Mokona spoke again, "That's why Shirai-rai is here! Yuuko sent us specifically to her world first so she could join us!" I nodded to show that Mokona wasn't lying out his fluff.

"Thank you very much," Syaran said, politely as always. I frowned at the Keigo (formal language), but shrugged anyways, my helping out wasn't really a big deal.

Kurogane randomly shouted something that I considered unintelligible and ran off, leaving the rest of us more than a little confused. We stared after him for a good, long, six seconds before Fye decided that Kurorin must have seen someone that looked just like someone else from his home world, thus Kuro-pon took off to investigate. Then Mokona jumped up, shouted, and flew off.

Fye and Syaoran took the time to look at each other confused, but I had already began to run after the plush toy, leaving them behind. Mokona wasn't that fast, so they caught up quickly and we all easily kept up, pushing through the people around us, Syaoran apologizing for all of us, claiming we lost something. We'd all assumed that Mokona had sensed a feather, but it turned out that he was just hungry and smelled food.

"Your majesty!" Syaoran shouted in shock once we were greeted by the two waiters inside the restaurant, he was looking at the taller one. I sighed and Mokona landed on my head, it was annoying so I shook me head slightly causing the fluff to fall and land on Fye.

"How many people?" the tall, black-haired waiter asked, staring at Syaoran in confusion, it wasn't everyday strangers mark you a king.

"Four," Fye answered, then thought about what he said and the people with him and amended with, "Three and one animal." I raised three fingers, getting the point across that I wasn't hungry and wouldn't be eating.

"She doesn't talk?"

"She can't," this time it was Fye responding for me instead of Mokona. I looked up at the tall waiter, my green eyes empty and face emotionless His gaze hardened, but the other waiter quickly took us to a table.

"You really would stop eating if you could, wouldn't you Rai-chan?" Fye asked me, the ridiculous smile still attached to his face like plaster. I shrugged, not really caring enough to have Mokona answer for me, "Get her something too! She hasn't eaten since yesterday morning, and I think she's a vegetarian."

I glared, tapped Mokona and sat back as he spoke for me again, "Shirai-rai says that is she's not hungry she won't eat, so you shouldn't waste your money and time on something worthless!" the plush grinned and spoke joyfully, despite the cruel nature of the words.

Fye just kept smiling, like he actually thought he could get me to eat. I frowned, wishing I could go back to the way I was before, before that cursed mark had been placed upon me, sealing my voice and most of my emotions. It was impossible to remove, I had already tried countless times, but the most I ever achieved was making it temporarily invisible, nothing else. Useless.

The waiters came back with food for all of us, and when Fye tried to shove it into my mouth, I caught his wrist, glaring harshly. He was shocked enough that he opened his eyes a bit and his smile faltered. Mokona looked up and with a mouth full of food said, "Fye! You shouldn't do that! Shirai-rai is really powerful! She's scary when she's mad!" Food splattered from the fluff's mouth all over Syaoran, amusing Fye enough that he pulled his hand away, and I loosened my grip so he could. When Mokona whined about not being able to eat that splattered food, I swiped the extra thing from Fye and pushed it into the fluff's mouth so it would shut up.

We found nothing that day, so we went out again the next, but while we were out, Sakura woke up, and wandered off. Arashi found us and told us and almost immediately Syaoran ran off, looking for his princess. I sighed, shaking my head a bit, and ran off in a different direction, leaving Mokona to tell the other two that I decided to help Syaoran look. I ran down a few streets, and a few alleys, and found nothing. It took a while, but I did eventually run into the guy who had wanted to battle Syaoran two days before.

"Hey! You were with that kid, Syaoran, weren't you?" he asked, walking over to me with a group of goggle wearing weirdos behind him. I nodded and he asked, "What's your name?" I held out my hand, and drew in the air with my finger, "You can't talk?" I shook my head, and he got a piece of paper and something to write with from one of the others in his gang. Gang members carried everything, even things I wouldn't have suspected, like a fluffy blue pen with a googly eyes thing on top.

I stared at the thing for a fraction of a second, then wrote my name down on the paper along with a little note saying I was in a bit of a hurry, and thrust it back to him, pen included. He had time to tell me his name was Shougo before I ran off, but then he shouted after me, "I wouldn't go down there! Some pretty bad people hang out down there!"

'Bad people,' clicked in my mind, if anyone were to take Sakura, they would be down there. My Kudan materialized at my side, and I could hear some surprised whoops from the goggle people, but I continued running down the street. It didn't take long for me to find the bad people. Smoking and drinking as they laughed and punched other people. It grew quiet with my arrival, a few just staring in confusion, but others grinned evilly, their own Kudans appearing at their sides. I laughed once through my nose, mocking their Kudans. Here I'd thought only those with strong hearts would have strong Kudans, but I guess I was wrong, but perhaps these people really did have strong hearts, strong, evil hearts, if anything.

My Kudan growled fiercely at theirs, standing in front of me, ready for battle. If anything, I was going to have a bit of fun. Before fighting I had my Kudan gouge into the wall, 'Has anyone seen a young girl, she looks like this.' and then there was a mostly similar picture of Sakura embedded underneath the writing. They all looked confused, so I figured they hadn't seen her, and then wrote on the other wall, 'Then I have no business with you. Attack only if you wish to be hurt.'

They didn't take my warning, attacked, and I grinned wickedly. It wouldn't be a long fight. Mimicking what I had seen the two gangs do the day before, I placed my hand on my forearm and shot a ball of power at them. It was black, the same color as my Kudan, the same color as the darkness that tainted my life and always would. It alone knocked the weaker ones down, and my Kudan, whom I named Fenrir attacked the remaining top level ones. While he fought the actual Kudans, I fought with their 'owners.' It was really easy, all the people there only knew how to fight with Kudans and when faced with actual combat, cowered and ran.

A few minutes after I entered, I left, a trail of dust following me and Fenrir. Shougo and his gang were standing out there, waiting to see if I might need help. I quickly wiped my hands on my pants, and patted some dust off the white shirt. Answering their questioning gazes with a shake of my head and shrug of my shoulders. I yawned, bored with the pathetic fight that I'd been in.

Waving slightly, I ran off again, in a different direction, still looking for Sakura. After a while though, I gave up, and went back to where the four of us had split up earlier. If we were going to meet up, that would be the place. Sure enough, when I got there, the three guys were there, looking around. Mokona jumped up shouting, "Shirai-rai is back! Shirai-rai is back! Over there!" He pointed with his ears in my direction as I jogged over.

"Did you find her?" Syaoran asked.

I poked Mokona and he spoke for me as he always did, "Shirai-rai says if she'd found Sakura, she would have brought her back with her, kicking and screaming if necessary." I nodded, my face as expressionless as always, then prodded the fluff ball again, "She didn't find any clues either!"

"Hey! You guys!" a familiar voice shouted, we turned in its direction and watched as Masayoshi, the guy from yesterday, came running up to us, his Kudan out, flying above him.

"Masayoshi-kun!" Syaoran called out, "What is it?"

"That girl you were with yesterday! I saw her! She was with the Mohawks!"

"What?" Mokona said for me, "Shirai-rai wants to know where you last saw them!"

"My Kudan has the ability to find people! We can find her that way!"

Syaoran immediately thanked him, but I only nodded. I saw Fye looking at me out of the corner of my eye, smiling a little differently than normally, but I couldn't place how it was different.

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Someone who I will not name, added this story to their alert list, so I'm updating because they liked it that much. Thanks to the person who did that! =D


	3. Battle

_I sighed, it had been an almost annoyingly uneventful night. Shougo had found Sakura before we could, then let her go. The most interesting thing was when the girl started flying, without a Kudan, without wings, she just started flying, but she fell, and Syaoran had to catch her. After that we went back to Arashi and Sorata's place, putting me an a bad mood about how uneventful the whole thing was. There was no fighting, no arguing, just Syaoran catching her, leaving me to feel as if going was entirely pointless, despite the fact that Syaoran had thanked us all for going anyway._

_Now, Sakura had woken up briefly and Kurorin, Fye, and I had left the room so they could have some time alone. While we were out there, Fye randomly draped his arms over my shoulders, "Rai-chan! I'm tired!"_

_Scowling, I pushed Mokona into his face, and he said, "Shirai-rai says go whine to someone who cares!" It would have been amusing to hear the cruel words coming out of the happy plush toy's mouth if I could have actually been amused. Moving away from Fye, I resisted the urge to grip my arm, something I normally did when I thought of how much I hated that mark, and how I would cut my arm off if that would have unsealed it, but it wouldn't, so I didn't._

_I groaned mentally, out of the few emotions I could still feel, annoyance was one of them, and I was definitely feeling it at the moment. Masayoshi and Mokona had been kidnapped by a big bird-like thing, and now, Fye, Syaoran, and Kurogane were all talking in different languages, none of which I could understand. So, instead of waiting around with them, to try and figure out what they were saying and where Mokona went, I went in the same direction the giant bird thing had gone in earlier. Expecting to find at the very least a clue._

_Apparently I was going in the right direction because Kuro-rin and friends had caught up to me, and they were understandable. The tower was where they were headed, so I figured that I might as well go along with them, it'd be better than getting nowhere or somewhere without them. The tower, however, was very tall, and had a strange girl standing on top of it, while Masayoshi and Mokona were tied up and dangling from part of it._

"_How does it feel Shirai? To know that you will never be able to express anything other than the emotions that will make others hate you, only being able to express your hatred, annoyance, anger, disappointment. That's the price you have paid for not answering to me. The price you will continue to pay for the rest of your life, unless you so decide to change your mind."_

_Glaring, the back of my hand hit the side of his face incredibly hard, as he straightened himself he laughed, "You have become the ultimate soldier Shirai, you will never be able to become anything else."_

"Oi, snap out of it!" I blinked, Kurogane glaring harshly in my face. I had either spaced out, or passed out, but since I was still standing, I decided it was the first option. From what I could tell, Fye was messing around using his Kudan to fly and completely infuriating the girl, who's name was Primera. Apparently she had thought Masayoshi was Syaoran and kidnapped him in order to get Shougo to spend more time with her. I didn't care enough about the details to listen to how it all made sense, instead my Kudan appeared at my side, as ready to fight as I was.

However, I missed most of the battle during the time I was spaced out, having a horrendous flashback. Masayoshi's Kudan was beginning to go crazy, growing huge and giant, rampaging across the city. My lips formed into a sneer as I jumped after the huge monstrosity, understanding at least, that it's source of power was coming from Sakura's feather. Syaoran went for the feather, while I did what I could to keep people from being killed by Masayoshi's Kudan. As the 'perfect soldier' I was unable to specifically defend people, but I had found a loophole. By putting myself in harm's way, I could defend those around me. It had nothing to do with emotions, but simply my frame of mind. Therefore despite the seal, I was still able to do some things that _I_ wanted.

"Shirai-rai!" Mokona shouted, jumping from Shougo's Kudan and landing on my head, "I was swaying and floating! Did you see? Did you see? Nee, Fye!"

I shook my head, knocking the fluff from my hair, and turned to see Fye standing beside me, smiling as always, "Yes, yes, we saw, and heard your song too! Didn't we, Rai-chan!"

I shrugged, and walked towards Syaoran, Kurogane, Primera, Masayoshi, and Shougo, Mokona following after me, Fye came along as well. "It's a good thing you protected everyone, Shirai. Thank you." Shougo tilted his head a bit in my direction, and I only shrugged, it wasn't such a big deal, not to me at least.

"Come back sometime!" Sorata announced cheerfully as we prepared to leave. We were all back in our normal clothes, and Sakura was awake this time. I saw her look at me from the corner of my eye, she probably wanted some reassurance from me since I was the only other female in our group, but reassurance was something I was unable to give. I couldn't smile at her, not tell her it would be okay, and in my mind at the moment, it was pointless, I was unable to do as I wished, and it made me angry.

"Mokona Modoki can't wait!" Mokona shouted, sprouting wings that were at least twenty times it's size. Sakura looked down, realizing that she would be unable to meet my eyes at the moment. Before the mark was placed on my arm, I would have been able to reassure her, but if I had still been new to the restrictions that came with it, then any and all my emotions would have been turned to anger. It had taken a while, but I had been able to control my emotions enough, despite the seal, to feel nothing instead of simply anger, hatred, and rage.

"We've arrived in the next world!" Mokona shouted. Once again I was the only one standing, and only barely. Mokona had decided to drop us on top of a market. The guys had all fallen into crates of fruit and knocked them over, while Sakura landed on top of everything neatly and confused. I on the other hand, barely managed to balance myself on the edge of a crate without knocking it over.

"Who are these guys?" This time a big man spoke, so big that he made Kurogane look short, and had to slouch just to look relatively normal. The man's parents must have been ogre's or something along those lines, judging from the way he looked. He reached a hand out toward Sakura, but Syaoran kicked him in the face before he could touch her. Kuro-rin and Fye stood while I stepped down from the crate. The huge man muttered some crap and reached out to me, since I was now closer.

I glared at him harshly, and he faltered as Mokona spoke for me again, "If you touch her," the plush toy spoke happily, "She will break all your fingers one by one!"

The surrounding people looked at the happy fluff ball, confused that it could say something like that while still being happy, what they didn't realize is that it was only repeating what I wanted it to say, in it's own voice and tone. In all the confusion, a little girl appeared on the roof of one of the buildings and began to shout at the huge man, "You'd better leave right now if you know what's good for you!"

Apparently the little girl's warning was enough to scare him off since the big ogre man left. The little girl then walked over to me, "I haven't seen you guys around before, are you new?" I nodded, and she gave me a suspicious look.

Before she could question my lack of a vocal response however, Fye took it upon himself to put his hands on my shoulders and place his face directly next to mine, "Shirai-chan can't talk, she lost her voice sometime ago! So don't be too suspicious of her."

Mokona jumped onto Fye's head and spoke for me again, "Shirai's going to hurt you if you don't let go right now, Fye!"

"Hai, hai!" the blond said smiling as he let go of my shoulders and danced away. I turned to help the others pick up the fruit they had dropped, but it was too late, they had already picked it all up, "I'm Fye, with me are Shirai, Syaoran, Sakura, and Kuro-sama."

"It's Kurogane dammit!" guess who shouted loudly.

"I'm Jun-yang," she replied with a smile.

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**I would like to thank angleflight2k6 for her "cliche" review ^-^**

**As well as thesimplethingsinlife for being the first person to review one of my stories xD**

**Thank both of you very much, it's because of you that the third chapter is coming out!  
**


	4. Shut Up Fye

"You all look strange!" The young girl told us, sounding rather insulting. I sent her a glare as Fye said it must have been Kurogane that looked strange, thus provoking a loud response from the tall swordsman. Jun-yang grabbed Sakura by the wrist and started dragging her off, "Come with me!"

I followed quickly, hesitation was not fitting of a 'perfect soldier' and thus I was unable to stop and wonder just why the young girl had dragged Sakura off without waiting for the rest of us to follow. I only assumed that she knew the rest of us would. The little girl led us to her house, where Kurogane and Fye took to sitting against separate walls and Jun-yang began to talk to Syaoran and Sakura. I stood back a bit, appearing uninterested, but listening all the same.

"So, I guess you're not the Miteshu… but I guess kids like you wouldn't be Miteshu anyways…" she sounded upset, but I shot her a small glare, unable to help being irked at a twelve year old calling me a kid.

Mokona spoke up without me even needing to prod the little plush into it, "Shirai-rai says you shouldn't be calling her a kid!" The little white being was perched atop Kurogane's head, jumping up and down happily, "She says you shouldn't call people older than you kids!"

The little girl looked up at me and sighed, "It would be better if you spoke for yourself instead of having a little toy doing it for you."

Once again Mokona spoke for me, "Shirai says she would if she could, but she can't and hasn't been able to for some time! So don't provoke her!"

It would have been amazing to hear the small creature's happy retelling of my cold words had I been able to be amazed. Yet again I found myself thinking about the curse angrily, but before I could do anything reckless that may have ended up in hurting myself, Fye poked me, right between the eyes and said, "Now now, Rai-pyon, you shouldn't get angry over such a little thing!"

I slapped his hand, forcing it away from me and left the house to prevent any damage to the building or to Fye. I missed out on their conversation as I say atop the house, staring at nothing and unwillingly reliving the past again.

"_You still haven't quite figured it out yet have you Shirai?" he asked, looking me in the eyes as I glared back fiercely, "As long as that curse is still in effect, every time you try to speak you will be the one who is hurt. Every time you try to feel something other than the designated emotions, they will turn to rage. You cannot escape it and as long as you cannot escape the curse, you cannot escape me."_

_My glare hardened and I pulled against the chains that held me to the wall. I had accidentally destroyed a building, due to the curse what should have been nothing more than a thankful gesture became pure, unbridled rage. I had been arrested and detained to keep from causing anymore damage. During the time I was captive, he came to visit me._

"_Have you changed your mind yet?" he asked arrogantly, "Have you come to accept your fate yet? To be mine?" In response I spat on him, my glare never lessening. This time he glared back and after wiping my saliva from his face, he turned and backhanded me, "Foolish."_

The wind picked up around me, giving me an incredibly bad feeling. I looked around and saw no sign of a storm, but the feeling in my gut would not leave. A warrior's premonition was never wrong, so I trusted my instincts and returned to the inside of the house. Almost as soon as I closed the doors behind me, they began to shake.

"Wind?" Kuro-rin asked standing up and looking at me, "Did you see anything out there?" I shook my head and he sighed, "I'll go check it out."

"No!" Jun-Yang shouted, standing up quickly, "You can't go outside!"

Just as we all turned to look at her the doors burst open and everyone lifted an arm to cover their eyes, keeping the dirt out. The ceiling tore moments later as a tornado seemed to be relentlessly attacking the house, "It's Ryoshi!"

The next day, Kurogane and Fye were fixing the hole in the roof while Syaoran and Sakura went out with Jun-yang to look for clothing for our group, they took Mokona with them just in case there may have been a feather nearby. While both Fye and Kurogane were busy talking, I slipped out of the house and went for a walk on my own, careful to stay out of the way of the natives. My hand gripped my right arm, nails digging mercilessly into the curse mark. The only way to get rid of it was to either kill the person who cast the magic or to have that person remove it. There was no other way, and I was not strong enough to kill that man, not even as the 'perfect soldier.' I frowned, my annoyance clearly sown on my face, even if I found the strength necessary to kill that man, there was hardly any chance of me returning to my home world. Mokona never had a set destination, but that was a good thing, perhaps. Not knowing where we were going to end up would certainly keep the others on their toes, while I remained level headed, unable to be worried.

I lost track of how long I was out for my walk, but after a while, Fye found me as I sat in a tree, staring at nothing. His smile didn't falter as I looked down at him emotionlessly, instead he said, "That's a nasty little curse you have Shira-rai."

I glared at him, jumping out of the trees and began to walk away. I didn't want him to know that I was cursed, it was something he could do nothing about, despite being a magician, as he was not the one who cursed me. Fye however, decided that I just wanted to keep moving rather than stay in one place and followed me, still talking, "Have you tried to remove it?" I nodded once, "And?" I shook my head. His questions were pointless.

"May I see the markings?" he asked, his blue eyes opened but still scrunched slightly because of his smile. I shook my head again, walking a bit faster, "I suppose you already know how to get rid of it then?" I nodded, wondering where Mokona was when I needed him. If only I could have the small ball of fluff tell Fye to shut up and leave me alone.

"It's a shame that the curse blocks who you really are. It would be nice to know the real Shirai-puu." He smiled at me in the same way he smiled all the time and I glared in response to the nickname. I was not Kurogane, while the tall swordsman may let the magician call him names, but I certainly would not. Fye didn't seem to pick up on that though, "So, if we land in your world, will you find the one who cursed you?"

I shook my head, wondering if this blue-eyed man could read my thoughts, that would certainly be irritating. His smile widened suspiciously, "Why is that? Are you unable to or do you simply refuse to?" I held up one finger, indicating that his first option was the right one, "What if we help to remove that curse?" I sent him a glare, "Oh, I see. You believe it is a task for you and you alone."

I nodded slightly before walking faster and arriving at the house with him following behind me, incessantly asking question after question. Kurogane didn't look happy as we entered, but apparently neither did I.

"Stop annoying the hell out of her!" Kurogane shouted, "And get over here and do some of the work!"

I looked up, after a whole day, Kurogane had only managed to get two boards nailed onto the roof. I have him a disapproving look before sitting down, trying to mind my own business as Fye continued asked questions that I could not answer. He was, luckily, avoiding the subject that was my curse and seemingly focused on my home world. Kuro-rin sighed at his opposites antics, knowing full well that I couldn't speak, let alone answer the questions Fye seemed determined to ask.

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**Okay, this is chapter four and you're learning more about Shirai! Fye is too, she doesn't like that .**

**I'm not going to post chapter five until I reach ten reviews. Shouldn't be too much to ask, I've got ninety something hits... fifty something in the last chapter alone. There are two reviews already, just add another eight!  
**


	5. Cold Hearted

When Syaoran, Sakura, and Jun-yang returned later, I could tell immediately that Syaoran had been in a fight, and lost. While staying a little outside of their circle, I listened as Jun-Yang told Fye and Kurogane about what had happened. It was plausible enough, the idiot gorilla from earlier causing trouble and Syaoran jumping in to stop it. He didn't seem like the type that would sit back and watch as someone was hurt in front of him. After Jun-yang told us about the new lord's strange increase in power a year ago, I immediately assumed it was Sakura's feather that was the cause.

"Could this be related to Sakura's feathers?" Fye was the one who spoke my mind, no doubt he wasn't the only one who had come to that conclusion.

"The time doesn't match up," Kurogane sighed, "The feather's were scattered recently, weren't they?"

"Shirai-san says the time in the worlds is different!" Mokona shouted with a grin, "She says it varies with each world!"

At Mokona's version of my words, Syaoran stood and looked at Sakura, "I'm going to get your feather, Sakura-hime."

She gave him an incredibly worried look, as if she feared for his life, "But… you're injured."

Syaoran just smiled and headed for the door, but I blocked his way, it was useless to go at the moment, he wouldn't even be able to get past the barrier, let alone defeat the enemies he needed to. He looked up to meet my eyes determinedly, "Shirai-san, please move."

I shook my head as Mokona spoke for me yet again, "She says it's useless. Don't even bother trying at the moment."

"It's true," Fye backed me up unexpectedly, "To get through the front gates, you'd first need to destroy the barrier surrounding them."

I glanced at the magician as Kurogane asked, "Can't you do something about it?"

The blond haired man just smiled as he shook his head before giving an explanation, "I gave away the core of my power." My glance turned to a glare, he was lying and I knew it. I could still sense the magic rippling off his body. He was strong, but he wasn't letting anyone know, he obviously had no idea I could sense his power.

"Then let's ask Yuuko!" This time Mokona wasn't shouting my words, but its own. Moments later, Yuuko appeared just as she had when we were back on my world, before I got dragged into this mess.

"Oh, Mokona, what is it?" Yuuko asked, looking as though she would actually help them without asking for something in return. I tuned her out, only listening enough to know if I was being spoken to, but since I wasn't, I kept my thoughts to myself. Instead of paying attention to them, I was once again dragged into the hell that was my own memories.

_I screamed as the immense pain racked through my body. I was temporarily blinded because of the sheer pain, and above even my own loud screaming, I could hear laughter, __**his**__ laughter. Tears flowed freely from my eyes which were wide with pain, shock and fear. Seconds later, my throat was too raw to scream anymore, my voice gone from me completely, and his laughter grew louder, more arrogant; he had won._

_Shakily I pushed myself up, staring into his golden eyes as I did so. He was smirking triumphantly at me, but I had no idea why, until another wave of pain washed over me, this time it had a source: my right arm. I opened my mouth to scream uselessly and he only laughed harder and the harder he laughed, the angrier I became, until I ignored the pain completely and charged towards the cause of my strife._

Watching silently and discretely was something I was quite good at, and I made use of the skill often, even when it was unnecessary, like when Jun-yang was arguing with Kuro-rin about whether or not she should be allowed to go with the rest of us to the Ryoshi's place. Kurogane was telling her no, and Fye was agreeing, finally she went to Syaoran and begged him, but he too said no. As a last resort, she turned to me, and I only regarded her the same way I did everything else, coldly and emotionlessly. Mokona didn't speak for me, I doubted he would need to. Fye, however, decided it was his place to speak since Mokona had not, "Jun-yang, we just don't want you to get hurt. Shirai especially!"

Mokona interrupted him when I glared at the small ball of white fluff, "Shirai-rai says that children should not battle, it's pointless and you'll only hold us… back…" the ball of fluff trailed off, the words seemed a bit harsher than normal, especially since the plush toy couldn't play them off as sarcasm. I turned on my heel and left, walking ahead of them, remembering how at one time, I would have told the girl she couldn't come in a much gentler way, but that time was long gone, as was the time when I would have thought Mokona adorable, such thoughts were mere memories now.

Kurogane's ability to walk into traps was commendable, in the last world he had run off on his own and likely been attacked, and now he was opening magicked doors. Of course, if he was attacked, I had no doubt Kurogane would be able to take care of himself, but magic was nothing the swordsman had dealt with before, especially not at this level. As soon as he opened the magicked doors, it seemed as though they led to a whole other realm rather than to the castle itself. This world though, was upside down, with a village seemingly floating in the air.

The while manju, as Jun-yang called him, began telling Syaoran to throw the ball that Yuuko had given us in exchange for Fye's staff. After a few minutes of Mokona repeating himself, Syaoran finally threw the damned ball and shattered the barrier, it was that simple. I glowered at the amazed looks on their faces and quickly entered the castle, annoyed at the traditional clothing of the area, a skirt over pants was not something I was going to enjoy fighting in. With a small sigh, I removed a small knife that I kept hidden in one of my sleeves and cut the skirt so that it would move freely. The black and white clothing suited me just as well as anything else, which was not well.

"Shira-chan! You really shouldn't go destroying the clothes Jun-yang worked so hard to get for you!" Fye was beginning to get on my nerves, his incessant prodding was getting him nowhere and yet that only seemed to intrigue him further, he wanted to know more because I was not going to let him know.

"Rai-chan says to shut up Fye!" Mokona whimpered, "She's so mean! Ah, she wants you to know that it's easier to fight when your legs can move freely!"

"We're not getting anywhere…" Syaoran interrupted what was looking like the beginning of an argument by the way Kurogane was glaring at me. I turned away from the freakishly tall man to see what Syaoran was talking about. He was holding up a bead of some sort and said, "I dropped this at the entrance when we walked in. We've been going in circles."

I frowned, it was becoming a normal expression for me, and Fye seemed to notice that, "Uwah, Rai-chi is becoming scary like Kuro-chama!" I sent him a glare that would normally make a person stop breathing for a few seconds, but the blue eyed magician just kept on smiling, not fazed in the slightest. He was getting really annoying. I ignored the rest of them for a moment, tapping on the wall to see if it was hollow, and what do you know, it was. Ironically, the second I discovered this, Kurogane punched through a different wall.

It was annoying, but it worked, so I followed the three of them, not including Mokona, through the hole. Of course, I wasn't expecting to see what I saw. A woman was there, but something was wrong with the aura she gave off. Her hair was a pale blue I'd seen before and her skin pale but with a yellow tinge. It was when she opened her eyes that I realized why she gave off such a bad feeling. The woman wasn't human. Her eyes were all black, no pupil, or all pupil, no whites, completely black.

I continued to analyze her, trying to figure out what she was and what her weakness was. She was obviously an enemy and obviously going to stand in our way, I needed to kill her; as was the duty of a 'perfect soldier.' At some point she turned from Syaoran and met my gaze, her eyes penetrating into my soul, immediately seeing that I was cursed. My frown deepened with my annoyance, I did not want this woman telling them of my curse, pity was something I frowned upon, and I knew that Syaoran at the very least, would pity me. Kurogane on the other hand, would simply irk me, and I was having enough of just Fye doing that.

"What an interesting emptiness," she whispered softly, staring straight into my eyes. My face hardened as I glared at her in answer, "it seems as though your voice is gone as well. You're quite amazing to have lasted so long, girl." In response to her comment, one of my knives flew toward her face, "And yet, so rash." As she caught my knife, the floor shattered beneath us, and each of us landed on a different pole shaped mound of rock that stood from the ground, only… there was no visible ground. Instead it was a lake about fifty feet below us. The woman raised her hand and bubbles of the water began to float around us.

"An illusion?" Kurogane asked, looking at me as though I should know, I shook my head in answer, it was obvious she was using magic, at least to myself and to Fye.

"It's not just pretty," she smirked, flicking a bubble toward Syaoran. It burst around him and smoke rose from the area, Syaoran stood there, shocked as his sleeve slowly began to dissolve.

"Acid!" Mokona shouted for me from my shoulder, "Shirai-chan says it's acid!"

The woman grinned wickedly, and the bubbles flew towards us, I back-flipped out of the way, landing gracefully on another pike not too far away. Fye looked over and said, "Hyuu, that was nice Shi-pii!" I said nothing, and let myself fall from my perch. With one kick, I broke one of the thinner pikes and took hold of it, jumping off the side of the pike and landing on a different one, brandishing my new weapon. Moments later, Kurogane and Fye did the same.

"You two take Mokona and go first!" Fye shouted to Syaoran and I.

"But you two won't last!" Syaoran shouted. He was going to continue, but Fye interrupted him again.

"With your foot like that, neither will you. And you have things to do! So take Shirai-chii and go!" He smiled, holding out his own pole-like chunk of rock with one hand and pointing toward the sky, "The magic is weaker up there."

I nodded, jumping closer to them, landing lightly on Fye's weapon as Syaoran landed on Kurogane's, "We're off." They flung to two of us upward, Syaoran kicking through the ceiling neither of us had seen and creating an opening.

As soon as we landed on what seemed to be another floor of the building, I noticed another woman there, waiting for us. She looked rather… whorish and seemingly had horrid taste in apparel. I was hardly one to mention it, but even silent am emotionless I could raise an eyebrow to her apparel. She wore one article of clothing, a jumpsuit with a dip in the middle the showed the skin between her breasts, which looked fake, and continued down to an inch below her navel. The deep purple outfit looked as though it should have been a dress, but it then spread out into pants, incredibly tight at the thighs and fanning out at the knee into bell shaped bottoms.

The purple outfit did not go well with her bright orange hair or freakishly yellow eyes. She looked weak, but there was a slight trace of magic radiating off her, as was bloodlust. I motioned to Mokona and Syaoran.

She was my opponent.

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Special thanks to SpacePirateGirl for getting me to update. If you're wondering why she's getting so much credit, go look at how many times she rated this story xD


	6. The Perfect Soldier

When Syaoran tried to get past the woman, she moved to block him, a dagger in her hand, the brown haired boy got on the defensive, but they were both too slow. My foot connected with the woman's gut before either of them seemed to know what was happening. Mokona said something to Syaoran and he nodded before running off. He needed to move quickly for Sakura's sake, while I could waste as much time as I liked. I wasn't sadistic, not now and I hadn't been before, but I could remember dragging out fights for the exhilaration that the adrenaline pumping through my veins would have given me back then. Too bad it couldn't happen now.

"Hm, I like those eyes. Blank. Empty." The woman's voice didn't match her either, not her ridiculous getup and not her looks. She sounded like a stereotypical farmer girl hick out of some bad story. She looked like a model, dressed like a clown and spoke like an uncivilized moron. Ironic. Oh, and her teeth were magenta. She kept getting weirder.

"You got past Debonaire with a stupid little trick like that? I knew that woman was a moron."

I ignored her, my goal was to defeat the enemy in front of me. If she proved to be too annoying to keep alive, I would kill her. Just like the perfect soldier. She noticed that I had stopped listening to her useless rambling and lowered into a ridiculous fighting stance. If I had been able to laugh, wondered if I would have. I'd never seen something so… strange.

The woman expertly flipped her dagger in the air, an act that had nothing to do with battle and could only accomplish showing one's skill with the small blade, as well as opening the wielder for an attack. She hadn't judged my speed properly, I was moving fast, but not quite as fast as I had been earlier, she kicked too early and I grabbed a hold of her foot, twisting it to the right painfully.

She shrieked.

The woman stared into my eyes, hers widening with fear as she realized what I was. One look at her face told me she knew of my curse, the frantic way her eyes began to dart about told me was thinking of some way that might get me to let go of her, let her live, so that she could attack the moment my back was turned. She shouted something about knowing how to get rid of the curse, but her voice rose three octaves too high, lies mixed in with terror were a good cover, but not when I was the opponent. I twisted her ankle more until there was a loud cracking sound and she screamed once more.

It was too easy, until the puppet crumpled to the floor, the magic that had been making it look alive had been cut off. I waited patiently for the puppeteer to come out, wondering if he or she had the same bad taste as the puppet or if they were simply screwing around with colors in order to make an abomination. A few moments passed before anything happened, and what happened wasn't pleasant. I felt a sharp pain in my arm that felt like it was on fire for a few seconds. I looked at my left arm, a small dagger was lodged into the flesh.

Without bothering to check for poison, I removed it from my arm and let the blood flow freely down my arm, staining the white of my shirt crimson. In truth, I noticed it looked much worse than it actually was. The thoughts didn't last long as I turned to face my actual opponent. A young man, perhaps a few years older than myself. He had short silver hair that covered his left eye, while his right glared at me, the royal purple coloring less than frightening.

"You broke my doll."

I looked the man over and decided that he must have simply been crazy. His clothing was all black and rather normal; strange in comparison to his 'doll' but better. Still, he was my enemy and I focused on him rather than his clothing. The man seemed a bit slow, that was most likely why he was a puppeteer rather than someone who fought themselves. A disgrace in my clouded eyes.

He proved much faster than I predicted and before I could even blink, he was at my shoulder, pushing his thumb into my wound as if to cause me pain. I felt it, but it didn't faze me as he seemed to hope it would despite his knowledge of my curse. I quickly grabbed his arm and shattered the bone with my elbow. He screamed much like his doll had, but he proved weak and lost consciousness moments later.

It hadn't even been worth my time.

To prevent him from following me, I bound him with his own wires; he wouldn't be moving anytime soon. As I turned to leave, I heard some shuffling sounds and turned back toward the puppeteer, he hadn't moved from his position, but he was sneering at me. Narrowing my green eyes, I turned my body entirely to face him and moments later I saw the silvery glint of wires just before they bit into my arms. I had been too arrogant to think he couldn't control the wires with his mind, having forgotten that the magic here was not like that on my own world.

The Puppeteer was easily able to free himself from the wires, our roles now reversed as I was the one bound. He smirked, standing and brushing himself off with his one good arm, as though the pain he were feeling in his left arm were nothing, but it was possible he was using some form of magic to numb the pain.

"You're quite careless, little girl." He yawned, his form changing. My eyes narrowed as a rage filled me. The man had changed his shape to look like him. The Puppeteer grew taller, leaner, more built. His face changed from it's childish shape to a narrower, stronger one, eyes spacing out a bit more, narrowing, becoming golden. His bangs shortened until they only covered his eyebrows instead of half his face, becoming a silver color in contrast, "I wonder if you're scared yet? It hardly matters, pet. I'm going to take you to the Ryoshi so he can use you as bait for your friends."

The wires around my legs unbound themselves and I took that opening. Turning as quickly and suddenly as I could, I forced the Puppeteer from the ground and sent him flying into a wall due to his very own wires. The sharp metal strings cut into my arms and tore the sleeves of my clothes, revealing the intricate, intertwining lines that created the delicate design of my curse mark. By now, any thoughts of leaving the man alive were gone, he wouldn't live any longer than necessary; which wasn't long considering I had no voice to interrogate him with.

Another cracking sound and his appearance changed again, this time into a young man a bit younger than myself, his hair black and his eyes… were closed. I thought for only a moment that I had crushed his skull, but then he groaned and stood up, pieces of a strange looking green jewel attached to his forehead, some on the ground and a few more lodged into the wall. His eyes finally opened to a confused and murky gray. When he looked at me, those same eyes widened and the wires loosened immediately.

"I'm so sorry! That jewel on my forehead… it was controlling me." he bowed formally, as though he were asking someone important for forgiveness, "I'm sorry and thank you for freeing me."

He kept talking, but I left, out the door and down the hall, in the direction Syaoran had headed to earlier. The Puppeteer, after noticing I had left, followed behind me, stringing along apologies, two for every step he took and he took twice as many as I did. At some point, I just stopped listening and even hearing whatever he was saying as I made my way toward the large doors directly down the hall. They were already open and two familiar people were standing there, one yelling at a white ball of fluff who then decided to scream rather loudly in a worried tone, "Shirai!"

The two men in the doorway turned to look at my bloody appearance and profusely apologizing, unwanted, follower. Fye looked at my face and some emotion flashed through his eyes to quickly for me to determine what it may have been, Kurogane simply glared. The two weren't looking much better than I was, their clothes were burned and bits and pieces falling off. My wounds weren't even deep enough to permanently scar, let alone bother me much. Blood loss hadn't been a problem since I had been cursed.

However, I realized momentarily that I was not needed to do anything. Syaoran practically had the idiot in charge begging for his life and ugly face, so I leaned against a wall, still ignoring the man apologizing to me as he had yet to stop. A moment later, Mokona jumped onto my left shoulder and said to the Puppeteer, "Shirai-chan wants you to shut up now."

So I watched as the witch that fought with Fye and Kurorin appeared from behind the hideous man and dragged him into a strange portal to another realm inside this one. After of course, encouraging the little girl, Jun-yang, to get stronger. One almost would have thought she was being motherly, but then the witch voiced her expectations, that the girl would have to get strong enough to rival her. Ironic.

A strange ball shattered seconds after the Ryoshi was removed from this world, and a familiar looking feather lay among the pieces. As Syaoran went through the process of giving it to Sakura, I glanced over at the Puppeteer who had stopped apologizing to me and proceeded to apologize to Fye and Kurogane for hurting their friend. He was referring to me, except I had no friends, the curse prevented it. Unconsciously my hand moved to the mark, gripping it tightly as my eyes narrowed with the hatred I felt toward the curse and the face the Puppeteer had worn not long ago.

"Thank you so much." Jun-Yang was practically crying as we prepared to leave. There were no more feathers in the world, so there was no need for us to be there. That didn't mean that Syaoran and the others hadn't somehow managed to become friends with the world's inhabitants, so they were enjoying a tearful goodbye. I stood back, watching and waiting, not feeling any remorse at leaving this world, nor excitement or wonder at the next. I was empty; the curse was getting worse.

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Waaahhh... I sick right now... hate it... and after eleven hours of a blaring TV I'm not in a relatively good mood either...

But when I saw that I had 47 hits today alone, I felt the need to update all my stories. So here's chapter six of Fye-ness. Don't forget to rate or I might cry.


	7. Painful Memories

"Where… the hell are we?" Kurogane muttered as we arrived in the new world. Even I had no idea what kind of place we were in, there was absolutely no sign of human civilization, or that of any other species for that matter. There were plenty of trees and a huge lake, but other than that, nothing. While I stood back from the rest of the group, they spoke of a strong power that Mokona was able to sense, but I couldn't sense anything. My seemingly habitual frown deepened as I glanced about, gathering what information I could on our surroundings. It wasn't eerily quiet, just strangely peaceful. As if there had never been any people around before.

"Shirai-san?" I turned to see Syaoran standing closer to me than he had before, mostly because I pushed people away and he picked up on that faster than anyone else, "Could you watch over Sakura-hime?"

The little desert princess had fallen asleep, finally too worn out from absorbing the feather to keep her eyes open any longer. Fye and Kurogane were taking Mokona and going off in search of forms of life, and I figured Syaoran was planning to dive repeatedly into the lake until he found the source of the strange power Mokona sensed.

I nodded in answer, not really having anything better to do. How hard could it be to sit in one place and make sure nothing happened to a sleeping princess? That wouldn't be hard at all, the onslaught of memories that came with my mind being unoccupied would be the hard part.

As soon as the brown haired kid had jumped into the water, they began.

"_Oi!" the elongated shouted sounded from somewhere behind me as my friend approached the training area of my house, "Shirai! There's going to be fireworks tonight!"_

"_Oh?" I asked, placing the bow on the floor and removing the quiver filled with arrows from my shoulder, "To celebrate that baka-ouji's coming of age huh?"_

_She nodded, her short sandy colored hair moving along with her head, "Yup. All I really care about are the fireworks though. The prince is a butthead."_

_The two of us laughed at the expense of the truly stupid prince. Neither of us particularly worried about anything. The country was at peace with its neighbors for once, strange as it was, but that meant we weren't going to get drafted into the military for some ridiculous war that had no meaning for either side. Our only worry was that the next year, we would be coming of age ourselves, and be forced to go through two years of service in the military as was required of all citizens. As members of the noble families though, most of our time would be spent learning about warfare rather than actually going through training simulations._

"_Come on, come on!" my friend shouted, pulling me along, "Let's go! It's going to start!"_

"_Can't I change first?"_

"_You look fine! Besides, if you actually try to look nice, then no one will look at anyone but you, and that wouldn't be fair to that princess from the neighboring country who's supposed to be flattering the hell out of the baka-ouji in order to get him to marry her. Stupid royalty!"_

_With a sigh, I gave in and let her drag me to the festival. The walk was about five minutes, but since she was running, it only took two. We got there just as the parade started, as the floats came down the road, the prince on his own in the middle, it was narrower and more luxurious than the rest, another was next to his with the princess of the neighboring country riding atop. My friend and I clapped politely while laughing quietly at how the princess stared at our prince so intensely and he didn't seem to notice; but he was an idiot after all._

"_Stop the floats." the prince commanded just before it passed by my friend and I, we looked at each other in confusion as he continued, "I have an announcement to make. One regarding my future and the future of our country."_

_The floats stopped and everyone knew what he was going to say; the prince was __**finally**__ going to propose to the princess in the next float over. There were happy whispers from all over as the prince cast a simple spell on his throat to project his voice loud enough for all to hear._

"_It's taken him long enough to unite the two kingdoms," I whispered to my friend, "Now we'll finally have an ally should war break out again, rather than a neutral neighbor that everyone ignores."_

_She nodded in agreement and we looked back up at the prince, his float had come to a stop almost directly in front of us. He looked down, golden eyes sweeping over the entire crowd of people present. I let out a small sigh, knowing the idiot was going to make it much more dramatic than necessary. The prince and I had never gotten along, out parents had tried to force us into a friendship, but I disliked his spoiled nature and he disliked me because of that._

_His eyes stopped on us, or more particularly me and he grinned and evil, disgusting, ruthless smile. It was only years of training as a shoulder that kept me from shivering in pure revolt at the look upon his face._

"_I have chosen my wife," he spoke slowly, as if to let the people decipher some hidden meaning to the words, "I have chosen… Akairo, Shirai."_

If the curse hadn't been placed over me, I would have shuddered in disgust at the memory, but since it had, I didn't and was pulled out of the horrendous flashback as Syaoran climbed out of the lake and looked over, "She hasn't woken up yet?" I shook my head, green eyes empty of emotion. The boy sighed, but I was not sure if it was my lack of caring for his princess or because she had yet to awaken. "Fye-san and Kurogane-san aren't back yet either?" I shook my head once more in answer, still having no feelings toward any of it. The boy looked me over for a second, glancing at my arm, the cursed one. He had probably seen the curse mark when I entered the Ryoshi's chamber with the sleeves of my clothing torn to bits by the Puppeteer's wires.

He said nothing though, just nodded to me and jumped back into the lake. Leaving me with nothing to distract my mind. The only thing not entirely sealed by the curse, purposely, so that I could suffer more.

"_What?" I asked in confusion. The idiot prince had jumped off his float and was now in front of me, kneeling down and looking up at me, a devilish smile on his face. He knew it would be a public embarrassment to both my family and the royalty should I refuse, and should I accept, I would be making an entire country the enemy of my family as well as submitting myself to eternal torture at his hands._

_There was no way I was going to marry the most asinine person in the entire country, but before I could open my mouth, the foreign princess shrieked, "How could you chose that thing over me? ME!?"_

_That pissed me off, so I shouted back, without thinking, "Oh shut it you whiney little bitch. Just because he's got better taste than one would have thought, you think you have the right call me a thing? Coming from you that's priceless. You're nothing more than a pawn in your father's quest for power, as he is in his own father's ridiculous search. No, I'm not marrying him, no, I don't like him in the least. I've known this idiot since we were children and have disliked him the entire time."_

_Then I looked down at the idiot himself, the shocked look on his face was priceless, "I don't know __**what**__ gave you even the slightest clue that I would marry you. I'm not about to waste my life with some idiot man I don't like in the least. It's practically impossible for a person of noble birth to actually find that thing called love, and I know that. I know that I will never find someone I truly care for in that way, but that doesn't mean I'm going to marry someone I despise, I'm no masochist and I'm not about to emotionally torture myself for the rest of my life."_

_With that being said, I turned on my heel and stalked back to my house, a sour look on my face. Perhaps I could start the time in the military sooner than necessary so that I could wait for all of it to blow over; not that it was likely to._

_My friend had stared at me in shock, the entire time. From the moment the prince declared he wanted to take me as his wife to the moment I left her sight. She wouldn't be able to talk to me again. I would have no friends for a while. It would probably be better to leave the country, but I couldn't go to the neighboring country, not after calling its princess a bitch, that certainly wouldn't go over well._

"Mmmm, I'm happy… birthday… with you…" the girl in front of my muttered in her sleep. Her eyes moved under her eyelids, causing them to flicker, her face twisted into a confused look, she was having a dream, one in which the boy, Syaoran was present, but she had no memory of him. I wouldn't be surprised if she was speaking into an empty space in that dream. It was strange though, her country must have been much more lenient than my own. It was obvious that Syaoran was in love with her and that they had been childhood friends, but the kid didn't seem like one of noble birth. He didn't carry that grace about him as I did, and Fye did.

She had probably loved the boy before her memories of him were taken from her by Yuuko. That witch always knew exactly what she was doing, exactly what a person treasured most. I frowned, remembering what she had taken from me. The family heirloom that had been precious to me before I had been cursed. She somehow picked up on the past emotions and took it.

"_Ah… you want to go to another world… many or just one?" the witch asked as I stood before her. I held up one blood covered finger in answer, "Looking for a new home then. In order to transport you there, I will need to take something from you." I made no response, my glare was just as harsh as it had been before she had spoken. She took my lack of response as the cue to continue, "That dagger in your hand. That is the price."_

_Without hesitating I threw the object toward her, not regretting that I had given it up, but hating that I had, just as I hated having the object in the first place._

"_She says here!" a white ball of fluff shouted from somewhere behind the witch; my glare hardened._

"_Mokona, you can understand her?"_

Syaoran came out of the lake again and again, it was beginning to get dark and he had built a small fire near Sakura. When the princess woke up, she immediately began to fuss over the boy, I tuned them out until Syaoran decided to jump back in the water and Sakura fainted not far away. Silently, I walked over to the princess and moved her back over to the fire, it would hinder us if she were to get sick.

"_Yup, it's one of my one hundred and eight secret skills! Extreme understanding of cursed people!"_

_Before I could tear the object apart, hair by hair, magic circled me and I was dragged into it, the glare never leaving my face. It was a few moments later that I landed in some strange, foresty place._

There was a rustling in the trees and I sensed Fye's magical power. It wasn't hard, he barely kept it contained since he didn't think anyone could sense it. Moments later, the magician came through the trees with the swordsman and the fluff. Kurogane smirked when he saw me, as though he didn't think I knew they were coming, "Couldn't sense us eh?"

Without looking at them, I pointed to Fye's right shoulder, where Mokona was perched and the fluff said, "Shirai-rai says she knew it was us!" the swordsman frowned and muttered something under his breath and Mokona responded with, "It's another of my one hundred and eight secret skills! Extreme understand of people who can't talk! Like Shirai!" The fluff must have known that I would have murdered it should it have told Kurogane about my curse. Fye knew, but Fye was a magician, Syaoran, Sakura, and Kurogane didn't need to know. I didn't want the desert kid's pity, nor did I want Kurogane to sympathize with me because of his own curse. His was simple, it did nothing to him unless he did something first. Mine was a million times worse than his.

"Rai-chii!" Fye shouted, jumping over to me, and poking my forehead, "I wish you would smile!" Frowning, I pushed his finger away from me, then looked back over toward the lake, Syaoran would be running out of air by now and hopefully distract Fye. It annoyed me when he spoke.

The magician's eyes opened slightly, revealing the blue orbs that watched everything carefully despite his aloof appearance, he was planning something. The strange blond magician was always planning something, but most of the time it seemed to be something trivial, this time was slightly different, as though he were planning something that might actually affect me in some way; I didn't like it.

Moments later Syaoran pulled himself out of the lake again, carrying an annoyingly bright object with him and Mokona proceeded to freak him out with its extreme acting skill. I pulled away from the group, jumping soundlessly into a tree and keeping out of their view. Their conversation wasn't for me. However, after Sakura woke up and nearly ran into the lake to look for Syaoran, Fye brought me into the conversation, despite the fact that I had all but disappeared from sight.

"It's hard for us to be together like this…" the phrase held a lot of emotion, sounding as if Fye had never had friends before, but he killed the moment by adding on in a happy tone, "Especially is Shirai-pii is so distant all the time."

"Hee hee!" Mokona laughed, "It's time to go!"

* * *

This story gets harder as it goes on . -is currently stressing about Fye's personality and wondering it it's out of character...- Anyways, thanks for the reviews, they help lots. They also serve as a great reminder that yes, I am once again posting fan fiction somewhere! After all, I stopped a good long time ago. When Quizilla got bought over by Nicolodeon... that how it's spelled? English is so confused, with strange words like that -_-'


	8. Fiancé

"We all look rather strange here…" Syaoran whispered, looking around us. All five of us were at a table, Kurogane stuffing his face and Syaoran freaking out about not having any of the specific county's money. Fye was consoling him while furtively forcing Sakura to play card games and win with her incredible luck. I was being me, staring at nothing with an unhappy look on my face, ignoring the food placed in front of me. A person like me could go weeks without eating. However my time without food was wearing me down slightly, I would have to eat again soon, I just didn't want Fye making a big deal out of it like he was sure to do. I had eaten around them once and they hadn't seen me eat anything.

Fye and Syaoran moved to the next table over to watch over Sakura as she blankly played cards, putting down a winning hand each time. I looked over disinterested for a moment before glancing down at my plate of food. It looked healthy at least. Kurogane was too busy stuffing his face to even see me quickly eat everything on the plate and drink the glass of milk that Fye had decided I needed; he said something about strong bones making a person happier. If I could have spoken I would have told him that it was total bull shit, but that wasn't something I wanted Mokona repeating in a place where it was supposed to be nothing more than a stuffed animal.

"Why, hello there!" I looked up to see a drunken man standing over me, he was slightly good looking, but I'd seen better, I was traveling with better. That was annoying. The man didn't seem to pick up on the angry glare I was giving him, "How would you like to come play with me tonight, little lady?"

"Oi, leave her alone," Kurogane growled, "She might kill you."

"Hmmm?" the drunk mused, looking over at Kurorin, "You her boyfriend?"

"Nah, companion."

"Same thing."

"We travel together. That's it."

"Wouldn't that make you friends?"

They were annoying me, so I slammed my fist down on the table rather roughly, giving the man a glare that had stopped killers from crossing paths with me. I couldn't speak and Mokona couldn't speak for me at the moment, so a glare was all that could be done. The drunk didn't seem to like the look I was giving him, but smiled anyways, "What… girly to afraid to talk?"

"She's a mute." Fye was now standing behind me, I couldn't see the look on his face, but from the look on Kurogane's face, it was slightly different than normal. Not a big change, but still a change, "She can't talk to you, but from the way she's glaring at you, I'd think what she wants to say is along the lines of… 'drop dead.' Isn't that right, Shi-chi."

I nodded stiffly and turned away from the man to continue staring at nothing, the drunkard finally figured out that he wasn't really welcome to speak with any of us and begrudgingly walked off. I tripped him as he did so and the moron went sprawling forward and landed on the floor, supposedly out cold. A few moments later, Sakura and Syaoran returned to out table, engaged in conversation with what I suspected to be the tavern owner. To keep my mind from getting too distracted, I listened to most of it.

"Don't go north," the man was saying, "It's dangerous up there. The legend only makes it worse."

"What kind of legend?" Syaoran asked curiously. I suspected he was wondering if it had anything to do with one of Sakura's feathers and as soon as the tavern owner began telling the story, I was pretty sure Syaoran was right. According to the man, long ago a bird had given a golden haired princess a feather with the promise of it holding a great power. Soon after she obtained the feather, the king and queen of the castle died, leaving it to her and soon after children were drawn to the castle, never to return.

As Fye questioned the validity of the legend, I silently decided that it had to be a feather and already knew that Syaoran wasn't going to not check it out. Despite the legend being over three hundred years old. When the tavern owner said that children were disappearing again, I stood and left the tavern, waiting for them to follow; there was a feather in the north whether they wanted to believe it or not.

Somehow Sakura had won enough money during those card games to buy a new outfit for each of us, and three horses. I would have been perfectly fine walking, but Fye decided I needed to ride with him, as uncomfortable as that was. A frown remained on my face the entire time we rode, I tried to ignore them, but it got increasingly difficult as Fye brought up my habits with food.

"I noticed that Shirai-chan ate everything on her plate while we were at that tavern, but I didn't actually see her take a single bite! Kuro-sama, did you?" The blond magician must have been testing my nerves, wanting to see just how much restraint I had on myself. If he knew anything about my curse, then he would have known what the repercussions were for even attempting to feel anything other than the designated emotions.

Kurorin looked up and shook his head, indicating he hadn't seen me eat a thing and Syaoran laughed lightly, "We've never actually seen you eat, Shirai-san."

Sakura frowned, "That's bad for your health!"

I said nothing, my face still emotionless with the exception of the frown that dominated the bottom half of my features. As if to provide me some for of relief for which I couldn't be grateful, a town came into sight, and as we entered, my guard immediately went up more so than it usually was. There was something wrong with this town, the only birds out were crows and ravens, the birds didn't even caw, there was no sound from any people, only the unshakeable feeling of not belonging, of being unwanted. My frown deepened even more.

"Oh!" Syaoran said in relief when he saw a small child, "Can I ask you something about the town?"

Before he could even finish the question, the girl's mother had promptly dragged the girl back inside, scolding her for setting foot outside, Fye laughed a bit, "Seems we can't talk to anyone!"

"They could at least tell us where the castle or the princess is…" the brown haired boy mumbled unhappily.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, we were surrounded by angry people carrying strange contraptions I'd never seen before. As they demanded who we were, Syaoran tactlessly said we were simply traveling around studying architecture and old legends, for a book.

The leader of the group, armed with a bit more than the rest of them, snorted and looked remarkably similar to a bull, "You're too young to be writing a book."

"Not me, him." Syaoran then proceeded to point at Fye, who continued smiling as if nothing were wrong and we weren't surrounded by a group of people aiming what seemed to be deadly weapons at us.

"That's right!" he replied, I noted from his tone that the magician was particularly good at deception as there was no signs of lying coming from him that I could sense and I was much closer to him than any of the rest, "The boy is my assistant, he's riding with my sister, the big guy is my servant, and this," he grinned draping his arms over my shoulders, "Is my fiancé."

If Kurogane didn't kill him first, I was sure that I would be the one to do so.

* * *

This one was both hilarious and fun to write =w=

Fye seems to know exactly what to do in order to piss Shirai off. Not that it's hard xD

Tell me what you guys think!


	9. Yuurei

I had no choice but to sit next to Fye, between he and Sakura. A doctor had interrupted the townspeople's questioning of us and even invited us into his own home, which he admitted had formerly been an inn and therefore had many empty rooms that we could stay in. As the doctor apologized on behalf of the people who were getting in our way earlier, those same people burst in through the door, and began shouting.

I ignored the yelling, only glaring at the stupid man who had burst in when he called us bandits. That was rather insulting. My glare only subsided slightly when they left, after of course, saying that we needed to leave as soon as possible. The doctor apologized for the man's behavior and proceeded to explain the disappearances of the children and how they hadn't been able to find them. I tuned them out until the subject of our rooms came up.

"I take it the two of you would share a room?" the doctor asked Fye, who kept me standing next to him as much as he could to keep up the engagement façade.

I frowned again and Mokona whispered something to Syaoran, who then whispered to Sakura, who saved me from humiliation by saying, "If it's alright with Onii-chan, could Shirai-onee-chan stay with me? I would feel more comfortable."

_If I wasn't cursed… I would probably like Sakura._

"Of course!" the idiot magician replied brightly, "I could not deprive my little sister of anything, but that is, only if my love wants to?"

Sakura turned to me, "Would you share a room with me?"

I nodded toward Sakura, stepping closer to her and away from Fye. The doctor nodded and let us go to pick our own rooms. A few moments later Fye sighed, "It's time to go to sleep!" A second later, Sakura had fallen asleep and fallen backwards, only to be caught by Syaoran.

When the desert princess was tucked securely away into her bed, Mokona at her side, I sat on my own, staring, or glaring, out the window. The town was covered in soft white snow, something I had never actually seen before, but I doubted I would ever like the small bits of ice that came with freezing cold weather and harsh wind. The streets of the city, however, were covering in a dark brown, disgustingly dirty looking slush that grew steadily worse as the people trod through the snow, lanterns held high as they searched for their missing children. And I couldn't bring myself to care.

I didn't feel comfortable sleeping in the hostile environment, so I committed myself to going without sleep for a night, it wouldn't be hard, I slept about as much as I ate. In my current state it was nothing more than a comfort, and was no longer a necessity. My mind wandered to the events of the day so far, I had two reasons to thoroughly destroy the blond magician. It was he who had insisted I dress like all the other females of the country, in an annoyingly stiff dress that would make fighting extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Gripping the hem of the dress in order to tear it and make movement easier, I began pulling at the fabric, but then Sakura woke up and I had to stop. She looked around, almost embarrassedly mumbling about falling asleep, then laid eyes on me, "Shirai-san, you haven't gone to sleep yet?" I shook my head blankly, glowering at the dress I was wearing, and wanting to tear the blond up for forcing me into it. Sakura realized that nothing more could be said to me, especially since I was incapable of answering, and turned to stare out the window herself. A moment later she squeaked, "The golden-haired princess?"

I was beginning to hate blondes in general, but despite that, I moved over to the window, standing next to Sakura's bed and staring out the window. She was right. There was a woman out there, wearing a white dress, with long golden hair that flowed just above the ground with each movement she made. I took immediate notice of the lack of footprints in the snow behind her.

The next morning, I left the room with Sakura, Mokona had already spoke to her for me, telling her to say nothing unless a child was missing. That would probably mean that the woman we had seen last night was exactly what we suspected her to be. While everyone else exchanged good mornings, I tried to stay away from Fye, but it wasn't working, the blond had anticipated the action and quickly managed to use the limited space in the hallway to link his arm with mine and politely drag me around with him.

"She's gone! My baby is gone!" a strange woman shouted, running around carrying a black cat. The same cat that we had seen with the little girl we had tried to speak to the day before. Sakura glanced in my direction and confused and frightened look on her face, I simply nodded, and continued to look forward, while sorely tempted to through Fye across the town and hopefully never see him again.

I was pulled out of my dark thoughts when Fye asked me a question, after a few moments of absolute silence, he figured out that I hadn't been paying attention and asked again, "You were in the room with Sakura-chan, did you see anything?" I nodded simply, face blank and without a frown for the first time since I had met these people, "The same woman that Sakura was talking about?" I nodded again.

The townspeople proceeded to freak out about a curse and once more I frowned. A curse that could make children disappear? There was no such thing, it may have been simple magic, but it was no curse, much less one from a three hundred year old princess. When a being died, the curse lifted, no matter what kind of curse it was. If the caster died it was gone, even if the caster came back as a ghost, a ghost would have no physical strength to hold the magic in order to cast the curse if it were a ghost; as I suspected the princess to be.

The same man from yesterday appeared, shouting as he had then and pointed accusingly at out group, "You and yours show up and another child goes missing! Your tale is suspicious enough without having an unhappy fiancé!"

I could understand why I was suspicious, I never spoke, smiled, showed any emotion other than a constant frown. A woman who was engaged and traveling around with her husband-to-be would be overjoyed while I was feeling the exact opposite.

"These people didn't leave the house last night!" the doctor ran up from behind us; striking me as suspicious how he seemed to be there when we were having trouble and he was the only one being incredibly nice to us, "My room is next to the entrance in case of emergencies, if one of them had left, I would have known. No one left my home last night. These people did nothing."

A few moments later, the mayor began ushering people away, but that hardly stopped the bull-man from glaring at us; I glared right back. Fye pulled me backwards into a lazy hug, the smile still on his face as he complained to Kurogane, "That's so mean of them to blame Shirai-rai! It's not her fault she's a mute." With a small frown, I stepped on his foot, forcing him to let go in his surprise so I could quickly dance away from his public display of faked affection.

The rest of the group went to go borrow a book from the mayor, while I was lucky enough to stay in town as proof that they weren't running off, never to return. Many of the townspeople still believed we had something to do with the disappearances, but for some reason, they didn't seem smart enough to realize that if it was happening before we arrived, then it couldn't possibly have been us. I was used to being surrounded by idiocy, after all, I was being forced against my will to travel with Fye, Mokona, and Kurogane. Syaoran and Sakura left me alone for the most part, understanding that I could not speak and there was nothing that could be done so there was no point in making me think about what I could not do.

The other three however… Fye liked the idea of trying to drag me into a conversation even when the fluff ball of a translator wasn't around to speak for me. The fluff liked to tell people what I didn't want them to know and Kurorin had a tendency to glare at me all the time. He was pretty harsh with his words too, but he looked angry when he said them, I held no emotion in my features and couldn't voice the harsh words myself, thus forcing Mokona to say things that it didn't really want to say. And just like that I came to the conclusion that the stupid curse made me a bad person and yet… I couldn't remember exactly what kind of person I was before I was cursed.

The thought bothered me for a while, but it was easily ignored after years of practice and the annoying doctor helped slightly by knocking on the door and bugging me, "Would you like me to check out your throat? Perhaps there's something that can be done." I shook my head, staring at an empty space in the wall and he took the chance to question me again, something I didn't like, "Do you enjoy traveling around with your fiancé and the rest of the group?" I nodded again, lying, trying to decipher what the man was getting at. Perhaps he figured out that I was suspicious of him.

"Do you plan on having any children?" I shook my head calmly, my face not betraying the relentless anger I had sealed inside, "That's a shame, you're such a lovely couple." I frowned again, annoyed with where this conversation was going, "When are you getting married?" I stood, quite ready to through the man through the window and be done with him, when someone knocked on the front door and he sighed, "I'm sorry, it must be another appointment. I will speak with you later." As he stood, the doctor patted my shoulder; the moment he was gone, I brushed the touch away.

He could go die.

I remained in the room I shared with Sakura for the rest of the night, stubbornly refusing to leave simply because I did not like the doctor at all. So of course when Sakura finally came into the room to go to sleep, I was still glaring out the window silently, watching for the golden haired woman from the night before. However, my mind wandered again.

_I sat on the balcony, staring out at my family's gardens for what might have been the last time. Ever since the prince had proposed and I had refused, my father was practically breathing down my neck, demanding I apologize and accept the invitation should he offer it again. My mother constantly calling me an idiot for not taking such an offer in the first place. I hated the house I lived in, my family as well. They cared little for what I wanted and only wished to strengthen their political ties, using me if necessary. A chance for that had arisen and I destroyed it; I hoped. I wished my elder brother were still alive, but he had died on active duty in the last war two years ago._

"_**Shirai…"**_

"The children!" I blinked and looked up. Sakura's shout having pulled me from my reverie. A moment later, she jumped through the window, chasing the ghost and the children. I grimaced at the thought of running through the snow barefoot, followed Sakura, ignoring the dull pain in my chest from the curse. It wasn't becoming of a Perfect Soldier to follow people out into the snow like that, but more than once good has come of it, the curse could only warn me not to go, and the further away from the house I got, the more the burning increased.

By the time I had caught up to Sakura, she had already fainted and was laying in the snow. Frowning, I moved toward her, my mind set to drag her back to the house as though it were a mission, but pain wracked my body as the curse activated. All air to my body was suddenly cut off and I couldn't breath, my vision began to fade, and with my lips pulled back into a snarl, I realized it wasn't the curse.

The doctor smiled back at me, "You really shouldn't touch your face with your hands, Shirai-san. Especially not after brushing poison from your shoulder."

I could only glare, infuriated that he had managed to poison me and all because I had wiped snow from my face. This bloody doctor really needed to die.

* * *

I had a bad feeling about the doctor from the beginning when reading/watching Tsubasa . He shows up at the perfect moments, it's creepy.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!


	10. No

As my eyes opened, they were met with a dull, old, crappy ceiling. I slowly realized that I was laying on a bed, the knowledge disgusted me and I immediately shot up, into a sitting position. A moment later I noticed a weight on my bare ankle and noticed a chain. I frowned, it would take a lot more than simply that to keep me there. It only took a quick jerk on the chain to break it loose; the doctor underestimated my strength. However, I was still suffering from the effects of the poison and the effort made my vision swim for a few moments.

Grimacing, I picked up the length of the chain still connected to my ankle and walked out of the cell quickly and briskly. Within seconds, I heard Sakura's shouts about something I couldn't quite make out due to the warping of the sound through the hallways. The curse couldn't keep me from heading toward the only clue to the whereabouts of my captor, as that would lead to the unfortunate demise of the idiot.

When I found the desert princess, she was running toward me, a feather encased in ice in her arms, the doctor chasing her, behind the two of them, was the ghost of the golden haired princess; the one I suspected could only be seen by Sakura and myself. As I moved toward them, the doctor yanked on the chain attached to Sakura's ankle, causing her to fall at the same moment that Syaoran and the others ran forward. The doctor scowled, pulling a knife from where he had concealed it, holding it toward Sakura, "Don't come any closer!"

Not a single one of them noticed me, save Fye who simply continued to smile happily as though the scene playing out in front of him were not happening and no one's life was in danger. My frowned deepened again and my footsteps were silent as I moved forward, before the stupid doctor could bring his knife down toward the princess who had been conversing with the ghost, I flung the chain at his head, knocking him off balance long enough for Syaoran to cover the princess, getting stabbed in the shoulder in her defense.

The movement caused my head to hurt and my vision fail me again. I felt my knees collide with the floor as I fell and heard the doctor laugh and mention the poison, but I couldn't make out much else of what he was saying. As if that weren't enough, the curse activated because the perfect soldier doesn't fall to their knees because of poison and I gripped my arm, teeth clenched. My nails dug into my own skin until it bled and I forced myself back to my feet and stumbled forward slightly, but the pain in my arm only let up a little.

More than a little angry, I found the strength to march right up to the doctor and backhand the idiot fiercely, just as the ground began to shake. The doctor used that moment to push me away from him and I went stumbling into the blond magician who steadied me and then kept me from going back toward the doctor, "Shirai-rai, you're in no condition to do that. Besides, what kind of fiancé would I be if I let you go off into danger!" The blond laughed slightly, lifting me off the ground and practically throwing me over his shoulder.

I glared at Fye, clearly showing how unhappy I was. The doctor had probably been carrying the antidote to the poison and the magician had successfully stopped me from obtaining it. Now, the only thing keeping me from going back into the damn castle to get the antidote, was the fact that the magician had yet to actually let go of me. He was surprisingly strong for one who looked so weak, but perhaps it was the effects of the poison.

"Is she really your fiancé?" the bull-man asked, looking at us disbelievingly.

Fye's smile widened if it were possible and he nodded happily, "Of course! She's just mad that I didn't let her run headfirst into danger! My Shirai-poo can be so reckless." I was going to wring his neck and tear him apart; Fye was having way too much fun playing this role. Kurogane began chuckling not far off, probably because of something that Mokona had said about what I wanted to do to the stupid magician. In order to make an attempt at annoying him, I turned my head toward the castle, no ignoring the blond as he continued to speak as if I weren't there.

"What about your friends?"

"They'll be fine. No one can stop that kid when he's put his mind to something," Kurogane mumbled, walking over and obviously trying incredibly hard not to laugh at my predicament. A moment later, both he and Fye looked back at the castle, "They're here."

Syaoran and Sakura broke the surface of the river and the boy began to swim to shore. It only took him a few moments to get there and pull Sakura ashore with him. When the blue eyed magician moved to stand, I took the chance to push away from him and stand on my own, only slightly unstable. By the time the three of us reached the two of them, Sakura was once again talking with the ghost.

"Thank you so much for saving those children…"

"No, it was…" Sakura was at a loss for words, so she smiled instead. The ghost returned that smile and melted the ice surrounding the feather, returning it to Sakura before turning to me.

"I cannot lift your curse, nor lessen it in anyway." I stared at her, my normal annoyed expression still on my face, only slightly hindered by the flush from the fever the poison had caused, "However, I can tell you where the antidote to the poison is. The doctor's desk. Third drawer on the right. It's the green bottle. Please… take it soon." I nodded simply before turning back to the rest of them and motioning that we should head back before Sakura got frostbite.

The antidote worked rather quickly, but that didn't keep Fye and Syaoran from practically demanding that I lay down and recover, while Kurogane stood back quietly, and Mokona jumped about, eventually landing on my shoulder. I had finally agreed to sit down, but I was adamantly refusing to go to sleep. I listened quietly as Syaoran explained that there were people in his country with the ability to see the dead and that eventually turned their gazes to me and Syaoran asked, "You saw the ghost too?" I nodded and Mokona jumped up to my head, as if it wanted to speak for me after having been silent and hidden for so long, "Have you seen ghosts before?"

"Shirai-rai says yes! She has seen them before!" Mokona shouted much too loudly.

"Is it common where you're from?" This time Kurogane asked the question.

"Shirai-shii says no! That there are only a few people with the ability to see them! She's the only one she knew about!"

"I need to see the princess! Someone has been watching us this whole time!" Sakura randomly shouted, sitting bolt upright and interrupting the interrogation. It wasn't surprising that Syaoran immediately forgot about questioning me and convinced the rest of the group to do the same and go see if Emeraude was still there. I went along quietly, not bothering to tell them that the princess was gone and wouldn't be returning. While they came to the same conclusion, I stood back and let them wonder about who was following us.

I'd have the feeling that someone was from time to time, but I just assumed it was nothing, but now I understood that there was a much bigger force than a petty thief stalking us. I frowned again at that thought, not liking the idea of someone knowing who I was while I had no idea who they were. I was tempted to find whoever it was and tear them apart, but I was simply being violent, doing that wouldn't answer any questions, and I wanted some answers.

"Shirai-san…" Sakura murmured, approaching me a moment later, her eyes clearly showing a great deal of worry, "Just before I fell asleep… Emeraude-hime said something to you. She said… you were cursed."

I could feel Kurogane and Syaoran staring at me in shock and knew without having to look up that Fye was still smiling that same, ridiculous smile. I looked at Sakura, my eyes as empty and cold as they always were because of the very curse she was speaking of. The desert princess looked saddened, like she thought my curse was something she should have known of from the start and that she was simply too blind to actually notice.

Finally, Kurogane spoke, "Is that why you can't talk?"

I nodded.

"Anyway to get rid of it?"

I looked at Mokona and the ball of fluff smiled widely, "There are two ways to get rid of Shirai-shii's curse! She says both are impossible for her though."

"Well, what are they?"

This time Fye spoke before Mokona could, surprising the others, "There are two ways that are sure to get rid of any curse. The first is to have the person who cast the spell remove it and the second is for that person to die. Hyuu! So dark!"

"Aren't there like… strange counter spells or something?" Kurogane mumbled; obviously magic wasn't his thing, but it had never been mine either, not until I was cursed.

I answered him with a shake of my head and tapped the fluff on my shoulder, who proceeded to jump in the air, "It's time to go to the next world!"

"Hyuu! I wonder what it will be like!" Fye mused as Mokona jumped into the air.

Once again, I was the only one completely standing on my own when we arrived in the new world. While my feet landed nearly soundlessly on the stone path, the others clattered to the floor, making a great deal of noise. I looked at them, disappointment flashing over my features at their lack of grace and gave a soundless sigh before looking around at out surroundings. I tensed immediately, before angrily picking Mokona out of the group, demanding silently that we leave, immediately.

"We can't, Shirai-rai," the ball of fluff spoke almost sadly, "There's a feather here."

"Something wrong with this place?" Kurogane grumbled as he stood, dragging Syaoran and Fye to their feet with him. Sakura had landed in a neat sitting position and needed no help.

Mokona spoke without me asking it too, "This is Shirai-rai's world…"

As they stared at me, I heard a smug shout and turned, prepared for what I didn't want to deal with, despite knowing I would have to. As I turned, I faced the royal guard and the person standing in the middle of the group, the person I despised more than the curse itself, looked at me, a smug smile on his face, "Shirai, it's so good of you to return."

* * *

HOME AT LAST!!!

This is a world I created by the way, so are all the character's in it, though I might drop in a few of the recurring characters. MAYBE!

Thank you deepest shadow for being the ONLY person to review chapter nine. Everyone else, you're making me sad! I got a lot more on the other chapters!!

ARE YOU TRYING TO DIM THE CREATIVE LIGHT BULB IN MY MIND!?


	11. Eternal Enemy

My eyes narrowed into a venomous glare, staring back defiantly into the golden eyes of the prince of my country. His silver hair had grown longer since the last time I'd seen him and was tied neatly near the nape of his neck, as though he were mocking the fashion that I had used back when my hair had been that long. In my now voiceless state, all I could do was silently snarl at him and take a few steps backward, toward the others.

It must have been shocking for them, the group I traveled with, to see me of all people backing away from an enemy. This man, however, was one to be feared. Unfortunately, fear and the perfect soldier don't mix and the curse activated. A pain flashed through me, forcing me to my knees. He laughed, "Now now, Shirai. I made that curse particularly strong for you. Even slight fear will set it off. You should know this by now."

"Hyuu, so this guy's the one who cursed Shirai-rai! Nee, Kuro-puu, he sounds dangerous." Fye and the swordsman stepped forward, blocking me from view as I recovered from the curse's activation.

"Hm? Companions?" the prince asked, "Certainly not friends as affection is a banned emotion." He looked up from me and glanced at Fye and Kurogane. Fye was around Prince Hariin's height, while Kurogane seemed to tower over everyone present.

I glared as I stood up fluidly, as if the pain of the curse had done nothing to me in the first place. As I stood the asshole in front of my group smirked and opened his mouth to say something, but Kurogane beat him to it, "So you're the asshole."

I frowned, Kurogane hadn't seemed to like me at all before he learned I was cursed, or before the whole fiancé fiasco. Now he was defending me and that was something I found incredibly confusing. While I was trying to figure out just why Kurogane felt the need to defend me, Hariin ignored him, focusing on me, "Akairo, Shirai. You know exactly what to do to get rid of the curse plaguing you. I'm simply waiting for you to realize there is no other way out."

"Other than to what?" Syaoran asked, he was standing behind me, but standing protectively in front of Sakura, just in case.

"Other than to marry me, of course." Hariin smiled innocently, "It's really the only thing she can do to escape the curse. She can't kill me."

"But I can," Kurogane grinned in an animal-like way, his lips pulled from his teeth in an almost feral snarl, but he had no weapon and Hariin was a magician. Fye was a magician, but he was seemingly against using his powers so long as he didn't have the tattoo that Yuuko had taken from him. They could do nothing, so I pushed by them, standing in front of Hariin and did the only thing I could to convey the feelings from the depths of my heart, I made an incredibly rude gesture that consisted of biting my thumb and spitting at his feet.

Hariin's eyes narrowed and he raised a hand to slap me, but I stepped back before he could and he let out a growl, "You think you can get away? There is absolutely nothing you can do to get rid of that curse and with how you're acting, I'm of the mind to let it remain there even should you finally see reason. You left two years ago and I still have not married because of that, Shirai, you really have no choice other than to answer with a yes to my proclamation from the festival. During that time, we went to war with the neighboring country whose princess you insulted…"

The prince continued to talk as though we were actually listening to him, when instead, we had all turned to Sakura, who was holding Mokona, waiting for information on the feather so that we could leave this stupid world. No doubt at least one person in our group of five was thinking of finding some way to break my curse, but if I couldn't kill Hariin, I doubted any of them, save Fye, could. Even with Fye, he was determined not to use his magic, so there was little of no point in fighting the moronic prince.

"Where is the feather, Mokona?" Syaoran asked quietly, "Does that prince have it?"

The ball of white fluff shook its head, "No… but it's in the castle. Shirai-rai, have you ever been in the castle?" I nodded, having been in the building multiple times since childhood. I racked my mind, trying to remember any feathers from when I left, but nothing came to mind. There hadn't been any feathers that I had ever known of when I left, or before I'd even been cursed. Unfortunately Mokona seemed to be sensing it from within the castle, the one place I would not be able to easily obtain it. My annoyance was clearly shown on my face and grew as I came to my unhappy conclusion and increased tenfold with each annoying word the still ranting prince spoke.

"That's no good Shi-chii!" Fye mockingly scolding me, waving a finger back and forth in front of my face, a little too close for me, "You should try harder to remember."

"Fye!" Mokona whimpered, "Shirai-rai says it's no use remembering something that never happened. There were no feathers when she left and getting into the castle will be hard."

"We just have to get in the damn castle?" Kurogane muttered, frowning, "Then let's just go. The sooner we leave, the sooner I'm getting back to my own world."

"Awww and here I thought Kuro-rin was beginning to like us!" Fye grinned, dancing away from the swordsman before he could be hurt. The magician seemed to be incredibly competent at angering the people he traveled with and I frowned at his childish antics and glanced back over at Hariin, who was still talking to himself.

Syaoran seemed to notice the ridiculous prince's habit as well and looked at me in confusion, "Is he always like that?" I nodded blankly and the young boy sighed, "That's… I don't even know what to say about that."

I looked over at the saddened fluff ball and it spoke for me again, "Shirai-rai says not to let his idiocy fool you. He's an incredibly powerful magician."

"I will allow you three more days to decide. Until then, you and your attendants may stay in the castle!" Hariin continued, his voice smooth as ever, but it annoyed me, his voice was too perfect, as if he were using magic to make him sound better than he actually did; I wouldn't be surprised if he was.

Kurogane glared at the prince at the mention of attendants and Fye simply continued to smile happily, "Hyuu, that certainly makes things easier!"

I sat in the room that had been prepared for me, staring out the window at the lands I had deserted two years ago. The others were searching the castle for Sakura's feather, while I was adamantly refusing to leave the room. If I did, there was no doubt that I would have to face the people I left two years ago, my mother and father, my 'friends' from before I was cursed, all the people I had all but lost when Hariin ruined my life. I would not do it, it was not necessary for me to meet with them, not required and it was better for the 'perfect soldier' to remain emotionally distant from those that could possibly become close. Even if there was no longer a possibility. It was that mindset that kept the curse from activating and harming me further.

The room I was sitting in was nothing short of lavish, making my normal apparel seem dingy in comparison, but it was better that way, I need not stand out. The quietness of the room was almost peaceful, if it weren't for the occasional clanging of armor outside the room and down the halls. Sometimes I swore I could hear Fye and Kurogane yelling, but perhaps I had just been with them so long that when I had time alone, my mind could still hear them. That was hardly a pleasant thought. Although I would much rather be hearing them in my mind than be sitting in a room in Hariin's castle in my home world. I detested the place before I had been cursed and the emotions were only magnified when my hatred for everything increased ten fold.

My omnipresent frown deepened as I continued to stare out the window, my mind thinking of all the ways I could have escaped the curse, if only my brother were still alive. At the thought, pain coursed through my body again, thinking of the dead was a sign of weakness.

* * *

FEAR THE BRAINFART I AM HAVING! Not with this chapter, but the one I'm working on xD

Thanks for all the reviews you guys ^-^


	12. Secret After Secret

There was a knock on the door and after a few moments, it opened, revealing my traveling companions. Fye danced forward, spinning around and out of the way of Kurogane's fists, the magician had once again pissed off the swordsman. While those two were playing around, Syaoran and Sakura came over to me, carrying Mokona. Sakura looked at me sadly and finally said quietly, "I'm sorry… It's my fault you have to be here right now."

Kurogane and Fye stopped fighting when she apologized to me, the swordsman looked over and said, "It would be better not to apologize, it's not like she can accept it."

I ignored them, turning back to the window, staring at nothing, because, quite frankly, there was nothing left for me here, there never would be, not even if I didn't have the curse. After a few more minutes, Mokona said, "Shirai-rai wants to know what we're doing here and why we aren't looking for the feather." The white ball of fluff jumped over to me and began bouncing up and down on my head, "Maybe if you would help us!"

"Oh… while we were searching, Prince Hariin told us he wanted to see you later." Syaoran said quietly, "I didn't know what to tell him."

I looked over at that, knowing that idiot prince would have done something, but I hadn't know what their reactions would have been. So I waited silently and finally Kurogane spoke, "I told him you ain't leaving this damn room."

With a nod from me, Mokona fell off my head and sat on my lap, staring up at me, "I could sense the feather all the time! But whenever it seems we're going in the right direction we hit a wall! Shirai-rai!" The white bean bun began to whine, as though I should know absolutely every secret passage in the freaking castle. That was it. A secret passage! It only took Mokona a second to translate my unspoken words, "Rai-chii says there are secret passages here! Like in a storybook! We get to go on an adventure! Yay!"

I smacked the fluff ball off my thighs and stood, walking quickly over to the door, motioning for the rest of them to follow me. I felt a surge of self-loathing because I had forgot something so incredibly obvious, of course there would be secret passages, and of course I would know them all. The architect for this stupid castle had been a member of my family, he'd also gone through the trouble of storing an illegal copy of the blueprints in our family library that I had found when I was little. It was so ironic that I couldn't help but wonder if it had all been planned out by someone. The thought was ridiculous, but still lingering in my mind.

The closest passage that I could remember was down the hall and up the stairs, the floor the royal family resided on. I didn't like that, but considering what time it was, they should all be down at dinner and wouldn't be able to get in the way. As soon as I got there, I counted the stones in the wall carefully, pushing softly on the seventeenth one from the bottom. The wall slid back slightly before swinging open to the left. A stairway revealed itself and I entered quickly, going down the stairs two at a time. The others struggled to keep up with me for a moment, but it was pointless anyway. The secret room was completely empty, with the exception of a small cot and some supplies just in case someone needed a place to hide out for a while.

I frowned, turned on my heel and headed back up the stairs, ignoring the commentary Fye was making about going to the wrong place. Of course, there were a few more secret passages on this floor, so I stopped before exiting the passage. My mind immediately began recalling the map, the curse made it easier to recall information, as the perfect soldier should remember any information that could come in handy. Of course, the information and memories were always jumbled together and it became a form of torture as well.

Without even asking Mokona to tell them where I was going, I moved on, heading toward the next passage that I remembered. Fye was annoying Kurogane the entire time, while Syaoran had asked Sakura to go back to the room just in case dinner ended and it got violent where we were. Finally I walked right up to the last room with a passage inside. It took quite a while because this was the floor the royal family resided on, of course there would be a way for them to get out every fifteen steps. Violently throwing the doors open and stomping inside the idiot prince's room, I would have been relieved that he wasn't there, if I could feel relief. However, I couldn't, so I walked over to his bed, kicked the damn thing over a few inches, and pulled a tile from the floor, opening another passage. I went down the new set of stairs rather quickly, making Mokona tell Kurogane to close put the bed and tile back after coming down himself since he was tall enough to do so, and in a few moments noticed that this passage had been changed slightly.

In the blueprints, there would be a small room at the bottom and another passage that would tunnel out of the city. The room had been converted to part of another tunnel that no one had bothered to conceal, while the tunnel leading outside was closed off, sealed with stone. I frowned at the change, but continued on, only Fye noticed my slight bit of annoyance at the change and walked along side me, "Hyuu, it's not the same as it was?"

I shook my head in answer, speeding up slightly, the blond magician really did annoy the living hell out of me, but I couldn't kick his ass just yet. He might be useful later. Our small group of four continued down the passage for maybe another hour. By this time, I was confident that Hariin had finished eating and was probably back in his room by now, none the wiser about the intruders. However, this would mean having Kurogane break down the stones blocking the path to the outskirts of the city so that we could go out unnoticed and come back in; probably through a window.

Finally a small glow alerted us to the end of the annoyingly dark and damp stone tunnel. The light was faint and flickering, as though it were a torch, but the color was off, there was no such thing as a purple flame. The others noticed it to, but we didn't stop, we headed right into the room and stopped.

"Mekyo!"

The room we were now in was circular, the walls, floor and ceiling all made of the same stone as the rest of the castle, a few purple torches were placed at regular intervals of five feet and in the center of the room, where the light was weakest, stood a pedestal, about four and a half feet high. Resting on the pedestal was a glass casing, and in that casing, lay Sakuura's feather.

Fye 'whistled.' Kurogane grunted. I stared. Syaoran stepped forward. The floor began to cave in. I was going to jump toward the feather and grab it before it could fall as well, but a pair of arms wrapped themselves around my waist and dragged me back. We all hit the solid ground of the hallway with a loud thudding sound that echoed all around us and probably up the hall as well. After a few moments, the noise settled down, my ears ringing, and Fye put his chin on my shoulder, smiling like he always did, "Hyuu, that could have been bad."

I ignored the annoying and strangely clingy magician and stared at the now floorless room in front of us. The pedestal was still there, standing taller than it had seemed before, strong enough to stand despite the lack of support around it. It must have been due to the feather.

"Tell me," a familiar voice rang out, "Shirai. How did you know about the secret passages here?" I motioned for Mokona to remain silent just before Hariin's despicable form emerged from the shadows across the room and he began to walk on the non-existent floor. He paused for a moment, a sarcastic smile playing on his face as he thought over his previous words, "I keep forgetting that you can't anymore. Not that you would have even if you could."

* * *

Hariin the bastard prince .

I really meant to make him at least a slightly likable character, but he turned out like that.


	13. Despair

The silver haired man smirked at all of us for a few moments, until he seemed to realize just what Fye was doing to me. The blond magician had yet to move, his arms still happily encircling my waist, his chin still resting on my shoulder. It must have looked like an incredibly intimate position, but I couldn't exactly see myself. The look on Hariin's face was frightening, enough so that the curse activated again and my whole body suddenly stiffened with the immense pain the small flicker of fear had caused. His golden eyes changed from enraged to malicious, the scowling face suddenly becoming a triumphant sneer. The idiot must have thought he was being messed with, that I had somehow found a way to counter the curse and had only pretended to be under it before. If he'd paid attention at all during those moments we were forced to play together as small children, he would have known I'd always been a terrible actress.

A hollow laugh filled the room as I clutched my arm, nails biting into my skin, I would have torn the skin open if Fye had not pulled my hand from my arm, whispering, "You really shouldn't hurt yourself, Shi-kii." I should beat him for still going on about the nicknames despite the seriousness of the situation. There was something slightly different about him though, he seemed more… on track than normal, more concerned with the fact that I had been in pain than the deadly magic wielding prince in front of us in possession of one of Sakura's power-enhancing feathers.

I roughly shoved the blue eyed magician away from me, standing shortly after, glaring at Hariin in a way that I knew wouldn't phase the moronic man in the least. There wasn't enough magic in one person to allow them flight, let alone one so smooth and level. The floor must have been magicked to be invisible, but surely there were patches where there would be no floor at all. Hariin was just the sort of person to use such a spell. Testily, I placed on foot on what I suspected to be an invisible surface, when it held my weight, Fye let out his strange whistle, Kurogane grunted in acknowledgment and Syaoran was more than ready to run headfirst onto the transparent floor.

Until I held out an arm to stop him, willing the white ball of fluff to explain to them that the floor might not hold up in some places, or be there at all in others. Mokona told Kurogane, who got the information to the other two, then the three of them followed me, each of us silently wondering when our footing would suddenly turn precarious and the situation more drastic than it already was. Fye, however, seemed to be having a good deal of fun, calling Kurogane a good many annoying nicknames, seemingly forgetting the threat to his life.

We had no weapons, no way to see the floor, nothing to defend us from Hariin's magic. Our chances of victory seemed incredibly low, if not hopeless all together. Fear was unacceptable. So I lunged forward, the fight with Hariin would be magic against fist. Three on one. If we were lucky, that would even out our odds. I was doubtful. My fist met solidified air, more than a foot away from the target and I was flung back by the same barrier that stopped me. I snarled silently at the prince, pushing myself to my feet once more. It was his fault that I could not speak, his fault that I could not feel happiness, sadness, empathy, love, excitement. Everything turned to hate, it always became hate.

I jumped toward him again, was flung back again, and stood up again. I heard my companions speaking behind me, Kurogane telling Syaoran that this was my fight and we shouldn't interfere. Too bad it was impossible for me to defeat Hariin on my own. I'd known that simple fact for two years. Only a magician of equal or greater strength could defeat him, there was only one such person in this kingdom; Hariin's father, the king. All hope was not lost, per say, but there was no chance of Hariin suffering a punishment equal to his crimes at my hands. The facts only angered me more, what should have frightened me, should have caused me to think of some excuse to leave the fight, all turned to anger once more. I wanted him to suffer, I wanted him to pay for what he did. It was his fault, all of it, all those people that died during the war with the neighboring country, that was his fault entirely. If only Hariin could have acted like a real prince, one with some concern for his country's future, then none of this would have happened.

It was also my fault. If I had simply agreed to marry him--I scowled, there was no way this was my fault, that moron knew from the beginning that I would say no and that was probably the very reason that he asked the horrifying question in the first place. It didn't matter now, it was already done with. The people who died were gone, the war was at a stalemate, the curse cast. But Hariin was right in front of me, it was my only chance to reverse the curse and obtain vengeance for those whose lives were lost.

Who was I kidding. This wasn't about the people who died. This was about me and removing this damned curse from my body. I didn't know the people who had died, all I knew right now was the bastard who put the miserable little curse on me was in the same room.

I needed a weapon, there was no way to defeat Hariin without something sharp enough or strong enough to break through his wind barrier. Casting a swift glance around the circular room I saw nothing, save the pedestal, but I doubted I could lift that, let alone get near it due to the feather. That was it, the feather. If it could enhance magical properties, maybe I could convince it to manifest into a weapon with the little magic I did know. But would I be able to get there?

Without another thought, I darted toward the feather, extracting a string of curses from the prince's mouth. Five feet before I reached the feather, my dominant foot hit nothing but air and I felt myself lurch forward and uncomfortable hopeless felling in the pit of my stomach. Slamming my left foot down on the invisible floor, my body was launched upward, spiraling in the direction of the feather, but Hariin would get there first.

But he didn't snatch it up, instead another barrier of air blocked my way, then flung me toward the ground, while he spoke in a clipped, annoyed tone, "The last person to touch that, died." I looked up at him, my green eyes locking with his golden ones. Mine glaring, his eyes smiling. He was enjoying this, my suffering and the hopelessness of my battle. The bastard was enjoying my pain!

My vision tinted red in my rage and I once again flung myself toward the feather, only to be thrown back again and again. My teeth sank into my tongue when I fell the fourth time and I spat the blood out onto the invisible floor, staining what I couldn't see a crimson color. After a moment's thought, I jumped toward Hariin again, when I was met by the wind barrier, I twisted myself to be flung toward the feather. It was elemental law that he could only summon one barrier at a time. Or risk suffocating himself in the underground room. He was never one to think ahead, so there was no reason for him to assume I would.

The second my fingers wrapped around the white object that held a portion of Sakura's heart, I could feel the magical energies surging around me. I was no warlock, no witch, I could use little magic, I barely understood the basic principles enough to defend myself from mundane spells, let alone Hariin's immense power. Not only that, but the asshole could beat me when it came to physical strength as well. However, I was much smarter and much angrier than he was. Time to see just how much good this feather was going to do.

Nothing happened. As to be expected with all the magical energies crackling around like whips. I would have to wait for a few moments until it managed to calm down a good deal, or I would be screwed, more so than I already was anyway. Now was the time to draw the fight out, to keep Harrin from doing anything while keeping him from touching me or the feather until the magical energies calmed down enough to be exercised. Unfortunately that could take anywhere between five minutes and five months, or longer. From what I had been able to tell, the feathers acted more as an enhancer, like a magical steroid rather than granting power itself. If I could keep the retarded prince from casting any spells then perhaps the magic would calm down faster.

It took maybe a quarter of a second for all of those thoughts to register in my mind, another fourth of a second to come to a conclusion and make a plan. The moment my feet landed on the transparent, yet solid ground, I turned to face him. The action looking much more like a graceful twirl than anything else. His face was distorted into a mask of rage and shock when he saw the feather in my hand, apparently doing no harm to me as it had the last person to touch it. Maybe the magic in my world bothered it.

Snarling something incoherently, he lunged toward me and I danced away, taking a few quick steps back and around him. So long as the feather was in my hand, it seemed, he wasn't willing to use his own magic to attack me. Maybe he feared there would be a backlash and we would both die, or maybe he was so set on marrying me that he didn't _want_ me to die. Death would be better than marrying that asshole.

It continued for a few minutes, like a long-lasting, childish game of tag. He would lunge, I would move away, carefully avoiding any place that I suspected could possibly be a strategically placed hole in the invisible flooring. Until he lunged, I moved, and my heel hit open air. I was thrown off balance and pitched myself to the left, landing heavily on my right arm, there was a sharp pain for an instant before the limb went numb. Hariin laughed, sounding close to maniacal, if not mental, "You know Shirai, I almost think you don't _want_ to marry me."

I stared at him, my eyes cold, calculating and devoid of all emotion other than the occasional flicker of rage. He looked overly confident, arrogant and unfortunately, much, much stronger than me. As I shakily pushed myself to my feet, he walked over calmly, the rage he showed only moments earlier completely vanished. He looked… victorious.

"But that's quite impossible. I have everything a woman could want, money, power, looks. Even a merciful personality. For some odd reason you don't seem to be drawn by that. Perhaps your mental, or batting for the other team?" My eyes must have flashed the silent, furious rage and defiance that I was feeling at the moment, he laughed, "I guess you don't then, perhaps its nothing more than… are you in love with someone else?"

The question was ridiculously abrupt. The change in subject something I didn't comprehend, the lack of comprehension making me angry. I had been careless to let my footing fail like that, weak to have the force of my own fall numb my arm. It was all adding up, all the pain and anger that I'd somehow managed to dim over the last two years, the hatred I felt for being unable to feel anything else. All of it, adding up and growing every time I saw Harrin's face, heard his voice, thought of him at all. I hated him, I hated myself.

"You can't feel love, never mind. Maybe you used to love someone else, and that is why you feel such rage toward me." he took another two steps closer to me, deliberately walking slowly to draw it out longer, he knew he'd already won. I was already battered and bruised, it wouldn't take too much more for the wizard-prince to take me down. Though I would certainly take him down with me.

"That's unlikely either… Do you really just hate me that much?" I nodded stiffly. He was standing in front of me now, "Well… that's really too bad."

_CRACK_

My eyes widened in shock and pain as my leg gave out and I inhaled sharply, the sound of the quick, shocked breath being taken into my lungs was probably the only noise I'd made in a while and I lay crumpled on the ground in silent, agonizing pain.

Hariin took a step back, a disgusted look on his face and said something, but my mind was blank from shock. He had just kicked me in the kneecap incredibly forcefully. Hariin had just shattered my knee.

* * *

I don't know if any of you guys have ever broken your kneecap, but let me tell you from personal experience. I have broken both kneecaps somewhere around three times each, if I do it again I'll need surgery. Shattering the cartilage that makes up your kneecap hurts more than most things, all the tendons and whatnot in your knee get messed up and become screwy for the rest of your life. There is no completely healing a knee injury; or six in my case. If anyone's ever had third degree burns or worse, it's not quite as bad as that, but it's really painful. Some people are lucky and when their kneecap breaks, or when they get burned really badly all the pain receptors stop working because they were damaged during that process, but it hurts... a hell of a lot.

Anyways, I would have updated last week, but my computer was MIA so I couldn't. Gomen.

--A.Y.V.


	14. Pain

Before I could fully fall to the ground, the back of Hariin's hand made contact with my face and I was flung to the side, landing painfully on my broken knee before rolling onto my side. My mind was still blank from the throbbing pain in my knee and it was only worse now that I could practically feel the bruise forming on my face; if he hadn't broken my cheek bone as well. I don't know how long it took him to walk over to me, my vision was blurry, my sense of time corrupted by the immense pain and anger, but I saw him slowly walk over, one agonizingly slow step at a time. When he was finally in front of me again, his foot came crashing down on my wrist and my hand involuntarily opened, dropping the feather. I heard a loud snap and a fresh stab of pain hit me, causing me to take another sharp breath.

"You really should have learned before this, Shirai." Hariin was saying calmly, dully, "You've known for years that I am stronger than you. We were raised to be so. Your brother knew so as well, but when he discovered what our parents had planned for you… he forgot." To emphasize the last word of his statement, he kicked me in the abdomen. I glared helplessly as he smirked down at me, kneeling a few moments later to lift my chin, forcing me to stare into his eyes, "Now look what you've gone and made me do," he whispered, pushing a bit of dark hair from my face, "You've gotten your pretty face all bruised."

I took that chance and turned my head quickly, sinking my teeth into the flesh on his left wrist and biting down as hard as I possibly could. My numb arm was sore but the fact that I could feel the pain meant the numbness was wearing off and as Hariin threw me to the side, I retrieved my last knife from one of the many hidden pockets on my person and raked it across his eyes before he'd thrown me out of reach. The knife itself had been too small to be considered an actual weapon, it wasn't something I would fight with, but the small weapons were all I kept on my person, so that I wouldn't accidentally kill anyone if I became angry.

Hitting the ground and rolling away from the now blind and screaming prince, I barely managed to keep the small, bloodied knife from puncturing my already badly damaged body. I mentally took a quick inventory of my injuries; my right knee was shattered as was my right wrist. My left arm and cheek would be badly bruised along with my abdomen, the swelling could possibly cause damage to any internal organs that could have been ruptured by the force of his kick and it was possible my cheek bone was broken or fractured. All in all, I felt like hell and probably looked twenty times worse.

As I began to force myself to my feet, a pair of skinny arms wrapped around my torso and began dragging me back, away from Hariin. There was a flash of white and black as Kurogane and Fye ran forward, to attack the worthless wretch of a prince before us. My vision was swimming and dark spots were threatening to encompass my sight altogether, but I saw the dark spray of blood and time seemed to slow as Hariin fell to the ground, Kurogane and Fye standing nearby, the swordsman holding my knife, now covered in even more blood. Confused, I closed my left hand and felt nothing, somehow I had dropped the knife.

For a single moment my vision was clear then a sudden burst of pain coursed through my body and I opened my mouth in a silent scream of physical anguish. Except my silent scream was anything but. The high pitched sound pierced through the deathly quiet that followed Kurogane and Fye's actions. I was in too much pain and too tired to be happy.

"Her wrist and knee are shattered, those are the worst injuries."

"Hime?"

"Shirai-chan got hurt… because of me."

"I don't think Shii-chii would think so."

"Shirai-rai wouldn't blame _any_one!"

"Cursed she might not, but we don't know what she'll be like now."

There were way too many voices, my head ached at each syllable, my body ached just thinking about my headache and I wanted to whine, for the first time in the past two years, I wanted to whine like a child, but I didn't. Instead I kept my eyes closed, hoping the talking would end soon, but it didn't seem like it was going to.

"Hime? What are you doing?"

"Something's just telling me to do this…" something soft touched my face and there was a glowing from the other side of my eyelids.

"Hyuu!"

"Stop what that stupid sound!"

Bickering began, but I ignored it as the pain I was feeling slowly began to recede, as though I'd taken a good amount of drugs or something. The thought of taking drug struck me as funny and for a moment I stopped thinking altogether. I wanted to whine. I thought something was funny. Then the memories came rushing back to me, my painful fight with Hariin, all the injuries, the image of Kurogane and Fye working together and taking the bastard of a prince down for good. I opened my eyes.

"Hyuu! Kuro-puu! You woke her up!"

A second later, Sakura, who had been standing over me, absorbed a feather into her chest and fell, on my already bruised body. I flinched slightly and mumbled sarcastically, "Ow."

"One wakes up and the other falls asleep." Kurogane muttered, followed by something incredibly similar to 'women' under his breath. As he spoke, Syaoran hurriedly picked Sakura up and laid her down nearby, busying himself with watching over her carefully.

I sent him a glare as I sighed and sat up, looking at my bandaged wrist as I did so, "Strange… I could've sworn I broke this."

"She talks!" Mokona shouted, flying at my face. I looked up, not thinking clearly and the white fluff ball tackled my face, making it so all I saw was pure white, "Shirai-chii talks!"

I peeled the thing away from my face and stared at it blankly, holding it up by the ears, wondering why I ever allowed it to call me such a ridiculous name. Before I had the time to fully ponder the question and relatively good looking bond man was in my face. Now, unlike a normal girl, I did not turn red at either the close proximity or the mental admittance to him being good looking, instead I focused on why I hadn't turned red. So I frowned.

"Hyuu," he 'whistled' backing away, "So calm!"

"I don't know what Shirai-kii is thinking anymore!" Mokona whined, its upturned eyes still looking happy despite the sad frown it wore, "I don't like it!"

I just stared at them, feeling incredibly stupid because I was still in a state of shock. Having lived with that curse for two years, dictating my life around it and its pain, there was a strange feeling, one of relieve at its absence and at the same time it felt as though something were missing.

"Maybe you did something wrong and the curse didn't wear off right," Kurogane grunted from where he sat not far away.

Fye continued smiling in that strange way he did, "No, I think it's because Shii-pii got so used to it, the curse remains a part of her, hyuu."

"You sounded intelligent until you added on that last part." I grumbled, noting for the first time that my voice sounded hoarse, probably from two years of being unused, but it wasn't like I spoke all that much even before I lost it due to the curse. The hoarseness was likely to be gone in a matter of days, so long as I spoke at least a little each day and if I didn't then it would last a few more days, there was no rush.

"Shirai-rai's still mean!" Mokona whined, clinging to the magician and crying fake tears.

I frowned at the cute little ball of white fluff and turned to the stoic of the group, Kurogane, "What happened while I was out?" He was probably the most reliable source aside from Syaoran, who was busy worrying over a sleeping princess. Sakura had not been down here with us when I passed out.

"Wah!" Fye whined, his blue eyes opening wide, "Shii-tii trusts Kuro-pyon more than me?"

"After you passed out, the kid went and got the princess. I bandaged you, and she came down and put the feather on you." Kurogane responded gruffly. He didn't seem the least bit surprised or amazed about my ability to speak; that was nice.

I nodded to him and said quietly, "I would like to thank you all very much. It is due to you that I am no longer plagued by that… insufferable curse."

Fye wrapped a ridiculously long arm around my shoulders, pulling me into a playful half-hug, "Awww! Shii-yin is thankful, you are very welcome!"

"Don't make me rescind my statement."

"Yay!" Mokona shouted before hugging my face again. I probably would have reacted if I wasn't tired and sore and above all confused. I'd forgotten what it was like to feel anything other than anger and with the lack of all that hate inside me, there was a sudden emptiness; I had forgotten more than just how to feel, I'd forgotten how to live. Suddenly I was pulled roughly to the right, causing me to flinch at a searing pain in my abdomen, then Mokona shouted, "Yay! Fye too! Fye too!"

I think he's trying to piss me off. It would explain why he's being more annoying than normal. However, with the strange blond mage hugging me, I couldn't really move and I couldn't see anything other than Mokona's white belly and with Fye pinning my arms to my sides in a hug I really couldn't do anything but sit there, and I was too tired to move much anyway.

We stayed hidden in the underground passage until Sakura woke up more than an hour later. As soon as she woke up, Kurogane ordered Mokona to take us to the next world. Right before we left, Syaoran looked at me and asked, "Don't you want to see your family before we leave?"

I frowned and blinked in confusion before remembering that Sakura was a princess and her actions dictated how royalty and nobility were raised in her world. They were very different from my own. The upper class had no choice in their future here, my parents decided my fate and my brother's fate, my brother died, they attempted to marry me off. I looked away from the brown haired boy, staring at nothing and shook my head slightly, "I don't have family."

"But your parents-"

"They do not fit the standards required of parenthood."

Fye grinned and draped his arms over my shoulders; hopefully this wouldn't become a daily thing, "Ne, Syaoran-kun, I think Rai-mii is still in curse mode! It will probably take a while for all the effects to wear off!" I frowned, I was not acting the part of the perfect soldier, just the emotionally detached noble that I was raised to be, one who'd had enough anger over the last two years to want to banish it from my mind completely, but that wasn't going to happen. It took me a moment to realize the only difference they could see was my voice. I could speak without Mokona doing it for me. Make my own threats. I was tempted to smile ruefully at that, but I figured Fye would get the wrong idea and it was much too early to give him anything else to work with. Instead, I shrugged out of his… grasp one could call it.

"Perhaps I'll explain it one day."

"She's opening up!" Mokona shouted happily.

"Just get moving!" Kurogane grumbled darkly, giving off an angry feeling, more than just the normal irate one. Perhaps his own curse was acting up.

"Mokona Modoki can't wait!"

As soon as we set foot in the new world, my right eye unwilling twitched as a large group of maids appeared shouting loudly in annoying, high pitched, too-happy, I-Love-My-Job type voices, "WELCOME TO OUTO COUNTRY!!!" Mass murder suddenly didn't sound too bad.

* * *

So yeah... this Friday's update. Sorry it's out at such a random time (even for me) but yeah.

I didn't have a chance to go over this a second time and fix any typos as I started doing a few chapters ago, so sorry about that.


	15. Oh My

"Don't. Touch. Me." I growled. The maids had decided that the invasion of personal space was a large part of their job, there was at least one hanging on to each of us, asking multiple questions. Even as I glared at the one wrapping herself around me, she continued to smile, acting as though my rude comment had fallen on deaf ears. Of course, that only served to anger me further and I attempted to push the woman away from me, but she had the grip of a grizzly bear and I couldn't get away. Luckily Syoaran shouted something about people from other worlds often coming to this place, but it sounded as though he was shouting a question rather than just answering it, but I knew shock when I heard it, blowing out my eardrum or not.

Less than a moment later and the maid hanging off my shoulder was dragging me along toward some rather important looking building, shouting about registering and getting situated, the rest of them were pulling along the others as well and it really seemed like a stampede of mad cows rather than occupation oriented maids. Either way, I wasn't happy with it. There was only one reason why I put up with Fye doing the same thing and that was because when cursed I had been determined not to kill him, then had gotten relatively used to his strange antics, so it didn't really bother me anymore. Though, I suspect it should have.

As soon as we were in the large building, the maids left, which was a huge relief because they were annoying the living hell out of me, but most things did so it wasn't really any different than say, two days ago. Syaoran and Fye were probably the only two capable of dealing with the people at the moment: I was unsociable, Kurogane didn't like people either, and Sakura was tired and oblivious. Personally I wouldn't have let Fye go take care of legal documentation, but I was tired, sore, and irritated, so I let him do what he wanted.

"Kuro-woofy!" the mage called out a few moments later, smiling over at the strange trio Sakura, Kurogane and I made, "Bring that bag over here!"

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the yelling that Fye had instigated; apparently Kurogane didn't like being called by a dog name. Then again, I mainly knew him as Kurorin, but that was Fye's fault. A lot of things seemed to be Fye's fault.

"We have a house now!" Fye danced back over to Sakura and I, magically moving just enough to continuously avoid Kurogane and still managing to look as though it were perfectly normal. I only raised an eyebrow at his statement; the bag had only contained our clothing from the previous worlds we'd visited, it couldn't have been worth enough to buy or even rent a house, not by my standards anyway and so I came to the conclusion that it would be a horrid little rundown shack with broken windows and dirt floors along a multitude of disgusting little creatures running about and-- I stopped myself before getting carried even farther away from the point. I should have just been glad there was a place for our group to stay the night, but I still had to suppress a shudder at the idea of how shoddy the place could be. I did grow up in a mansion after all… if not a small castle.

As it turned out, I was, thankfully, very wrong about the house, it was actually quite spacious, with multiple rooms. Almost as soon as we arrived at the empty house, Fye started congratulating Syaoran for knowing that clothing could be sold at high prices in other places. Leaning against a wall wasn't very relaxing, but it kept me more content than I would have been if I were once again in the middle of Fye and Kurogane with their constant bickering. At least it wasn't completely silent and for that I was slightly thankful to Fye for starting all these arguments on an hourly basis, absolute silence frightened me in a way Hariin never could.

Frowning I mentally changed the subject, my bad habits were back too, mentally ranting to myself and thinking about things that should be avoided until I remember that I'd forgotten to avoid the thought. When the curse was still active, it didn't matter what I was thinking about, all the things I didn't want to think about would be there in fragments and pieces, a little bit of everything haunting my waking moment, but now I had the power to push them away, so I did. Just in time to hear Mokona telling everyone else there was a feather somewhere in this world, that was good it meant that we were one step closer to finding the sleeping princess's feathers and regaining her memories, except the ones that Yuuko had taken as payment. That witch was really something, to do such a thing… hey, my sense of morality was back too.

Then the window was smashed through. I lifted my arms, protecting my eyes and face from the glass shards flying around before jumping to my feet and finding myself shock into immobilization by the sight of the creature breaking into our new 'house.' For a moment my mind blanked, I'd never seen anything like it, black and spiky; it took a moment to think something as simple as _Wow… that's really ugly._ Then it finally dawned on me, I had no weapon, Kurogane had left my last knife in my world at my request and I doubted I was in any condition to fight something ten times my size with my hands. At least, not with the monstrous bruise enveloping my now sprained wrist or with my still incredibly weak knee.

Fortunately it took Syaoran all of five seconds to defeat the strange thing, even with Fye talking about unexpected guests and all manner of ridiculous descriptions of the monster that had appeared without warning and disappeared as Syaoran defeated it. While the three of them were marveling over the fact that it had disappeared, I approached the area and looked for any sort of remnants leftover by the creature; there were none.

"What'chya lookin' for Rai-rai?" I frowned, looking up and moving to the side before the blond magician could lean on me again.

"There are no remains. No residue, as if it were never here."

* * *

When I woke up in the morning, Fye and Syaoran were gone, but Kurogane was sitting next to the couch Sakura had fallen asleep on. Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I moved to stand and Fye's coat fell from my shoulders, where it had been draped over me like a blanket. Confused, I held the heavy piece of clothing up and blinked at it.

"He said you looked cold and put that over you." I looked over at Kurogane, he was watching me with a wary expression. I understood why though, he only knew me as I was when under the influence of the curse at it's full potential, he didn't know me for who I was. Now that I was returning to who I was two years ago, he was being careful. It was entirely possible that I was now a threat.

So I folded the coat and placed it on the arm of the couch, near Sakura's feet and just above Kurogane before replying, "There was no need." The last half of my statement was muffled by a yawn that I couldn't entirely hide. I was still sleepy, that was probably due to the fact that I was not a morning person, not really.

The swordsman smirked at me, "Tired?"

"The curse enabled me to waken instantly at sunrise."

"And now?"

"Now it may take up to three hours for me to fully awaken…" I yawned again, managing to cover it politely this time, "I am not a… morning person."

"What else did it do to you?"

I wondered why he was being so inquisitive, but between the two likely to question me, I would rather it be Kurogane, he would have a visible reason behind his actions, while I never knew or understood what Fye may have been thinking. Besides, perhaps conversation would wake me up faster, "I could not feel hunger or thirst, and thus could go days without food or drink. If I allowed myself to feel happiness or fear the curse would activate as you saw in my home world, then those emotions would be transformed into rage. Whether it was the curse or my own mind that did that, I am no longer sure."

"If he wanted you to marry him, why the hell would he make you pissed off at everything?"

"It was a game to him. If I gave up both my pride and freedom, he would remove the curse. He didn't expect me to be so stubborn, even under the influence of his curse. I decided that I could live without my voice as long as I moved to a place where I would not have to deal with many people, that is why I went to Yuuko… I regret that now…"

"Why?"

"I gave up something precious. I wouldn't have given it up if I hadn't been in that state."

Kurogane looked me over, trying to tell if I was lying. I don't know if he thought I was or wasn't, but I still felt detached from everything, it was probably like Fye had said the other day, the curse had become a part of my life, I dictated my life around it, cut off my own emotions so I wouldn't be filled with rage every second. However that was entirely my fault.

Finally he looked away with a shrug, mumbling about how things didn't concern him in the least. I took that moment to wander away and check out the rest of the house. There was the large open room that we had slept in and a few in the back, not enough for everyone to have their own room, but I figured Sakura and I could easily share a room, now that I wouldn't push her away with a cold glare. Thinking back, I rather liked the young princess, she was a little too nice though, but that was probably because her kingdom had not been constantly at war with another or something else that just made her world different from mine. That kind of innocence didn't exist there.

The entire group was strange for that matter, there was no one quite like Syaoran, Fye, or Kurogane either, especially Fye. Physical contact on that level was strange and nearly forbidden in my world. Kurogane was too easily angered, I would have been the only person like him when I had first been cursed and no one was as valiant as Syaoran. I still didn't feel close to them though, it still felt like I wasn't really a part of the group, of course I had only been a real part of the group since the moment the curse was lifted and that only made it more difficult.

I would have to try a little harder to open up.

Syaoran and Fye returned while I was distracted, then left again and came back again only this time with clothing. I think I twitched when they came back, the thought of Fye of all people picking out my clothes for me was scary enough, he didn't know what colors I liked, what colors I hated and if he knew my sizes I would have to beat him for being a pervert.

"Shii-pii!" the blond shouted with too much enthusiasm when he saw me, "We got you clothes!"

Then Syaoran saved his life, "The people at the store already knew our measurements. It was strange…"

"Here!" Fye shoved a bag into my arms and turned me around, "Go change!"

The clothes weren't that bad, someone seemed to have taken into consideration that I preferred the colors black and white over most others, and I think Fye decided on the shirt just so I should show off the no-longer-cursed arm. The outfit was incredibly simple, a white tank top and black pants. My colors of choice and they fit; that was the frightening part.

"Shii-rii looks so good in her new clothes, Hyuu!"

For a moment I debated on glaring at him, but he had gone through all the trouble of going out and buying me clothing, with money I had helped earn in absolutely no way, so rather than snapping at him, ignoring him, or doing any other rude mannerism, I bowed my head slightly, "Thank you. For everything." It wasn't the same detached voice that I had used when thanking them in my own country, I meant it, I really was thankful.

I lifted my head and looked at the three of them, Kurogane grunted in reply to my thanks while Syaoran simply smiled. Fye on the other hand looked quite shocked, his eyes were actually open for once and his mouth formed a small 'o' shape. It took a whole minute for the blond to come to his senses again, or lack thereof in his case. He proceeded to twirl toward me, wrapping his arms around me in another ridiculous hug all the while yelling, "Shi-pii is thankful! THANKFUL! You're very welcome Shii-pii!"

"I will never thank you again."

* * *

I will be unable to update for two weeks or so. I have big, long, excruciatingly painful tests coming up and I need to do a tad or studying and review. So don't expect anything new from me until at least... May 14th.


	16. Growing Closer

Fye was painting on a board in the middle of the café, Sakura looking as though she wanted to go over and find out what it was, but didn't want to mess it up, Kurogane and Syaoran were out, and I was stuck sorting silverware because apparently I was otherwise useless in this world. That would have been a blow to my pride, f I still cared about such a thing. After being cursed and running away from everything, I don't really care about my pride anymore, there didn't seem to be much left to wound anyways. From where I stood, behind the large serving counter, I could clearly see the black cat that Fye was painting.

As I knelt down to place a few large spoons into a drawer, the door slammed open and Kurogane roared, "What is with that ridiculous name?" I stood up, wondering what the tall man was talking about, to see that he and Syaoran had returned, bringing two people and a wolf with them. I looked at the wolf for a moment and the first thing that came to mind was that I wanted one. I would have to look around for one when I could get away from everyone else, but if I got nothing else in this world, I would get a pet, but then I remembered that I would end up being forced to leave it behind and quickly gave up before I could get too upset about not getting something I wanted. The curse had taught me one thing, something most parents teach their children at a young age, that I could not have every thing I wanted. Simple, but before I was cursed, I was used to getting things my way.

"Well," Fye mused, the never changing smile on his face, "I didn't know the writing for this world so I drew pictures instead! And so-" he began scribbling on a piece of paper, "-you two became Big Puppy and Little Puppy." He began to scribble on the paper again, "Sakura-chan and I became Big Kitty and Little Kitty." He scribbled on the paper once more, finishing much more quickly than he had before, "Shi-chii is now Little Bird."

"Why?" I demanded immediately, glaring at the blond. Birds were fragile and loud creatures, I was neither of those and I was not little, I was bigger than both Syaoran and Sakura, maybe not combined, but I was still bigger.

Fye just grinned as he always did, "I just drew what came to mind."

"I'm sure you could have come up with something a little less pathetic." I muttered, returning to sorting the kitchen utensils and proceeding to ignore Fye and whatever it was he was saying. Though Kurogane started yelling at him and it was not long before the noise got to be too much and I retired to my room for the night, an irritating headache pounding on the inside of my skull.

As I lay upon my bed in the room Sakura and I shared, I could still hear the voices of everyone still in the café. It was a dull murmur, just barely coherent from in the room. The two people Syaoran and Kurogane had brought back with them were asking about things, one of the questions was why I had disappeared. I smirked a little, it would have been barely noticeable to anyone who could have seen it, but it was still there. As a child I'd had a problem with walking off without a word. I had worried my caretakers often with how easily distracted I was and with how easily I became bored with things.

I could clearly remember their complaints now, very few had actually been about me, they had mostly been about my parents and how they couldn't be bothered to raise their own children. With a rueful laugh I placed my arm over my eyes and proceeded to stare at the back of my eyelids, removing my mind from memories just in time to hear Fye explaining my absence, "Little Bird hasn't been feeling like herself lately, so she just went to lie down for a little while."

That was probably the closest to the truth Fye had ever gotten without making fun of me in the process. I wonder why he'd even bothered to make up the excuse, it would have been just as easy to say that I didn't like people, but I wasn't even sure if he _knew_ I didn't like people. Of course he wouldn't go and tell the guests that I was angry with him for giving me such a pathetic sounding name.

"_Nii-sama…" _

"_Geez Shirai, I've told you how many times? It's Onii-kun! I'm your brother, you're allowed to be familiar with me."_

"_Mother says I am not allowed to speak so informally with you."_

_My brother sighed, looking down at me with the same green eyes that we shared, before rubbing a hand through his short black hair. I remembered how angry our parents had been when they realized he'd cut it. It had taken them more than a week. He looked around and said, "Well, mother isn't here, is she?"_

"_No." I responded with a shake of my head, "She is not."_

"_Then, what she don't know won't hurt her."_

"_You have been spending time in the towns again, have you not?"_

"_Oh come on Shirai! You're twelve! You don't need to speak like an eighty year old woman!"_

"_But-"_

"_Repeat after me."_

"_Yes Nii-sama."_

"_I ain't."_

"_But-"_

"_Repeat after me Shirai. I ain't."_

"_I am not." He glared at me and I begrudgingly uncorrected myself, "I ain't…"_

"_Gunna listen."_

"_Gunna listen."_

"_To my momma all."_

"_To my momma all."_

"_The damned time."_

"_The… damned… time."_

_Then the image of my brother slowly began to fade away and my younger self still stood there, back straight, hands folded together in front of her, face blank of all if any emotion. Until a tear escaped one eye and her bottom lip quivered slightly. More tears spilled from the younger me's eyes._

"Shii-rii?"

My eyes focused again, back onto the ceiling that was slightly blurred by the tears in my present self's eyes. It was strange that a memory of my older brother would come back now, nothing had happened to trigger such a thing. Most of my nightmares had ceased when the curse was lifted. I frowned, lifting a hand to cover my eyes, forgetting about Fye for a moment. That particular incident with my brother hadn't even been depressing in any way and here I was, crying, "… Kai…"

"Who's that?"

"My brother." I answered, wiping what tears were left on my face and sitting up to face the blond magician with a blank stare.

"What's he like?"

The blond looked more eager than one should when question someone who had just been crying, but I sighed and answered, "He was… strange."

"Was?"

"He's dead."

"Oh…"

"It was Hariin. Kai had tried to keep him away from me."

Fye wasn't smiling as he normally did, instead he had a slightly pained look on his face, an emotional pain, and a look of guilt. It was strange to seem him like that, it was pretty rare actually. After a few moments of silence he finally spoke, "I know what it's like to lose a loved one…" He then stood and left the room, saying nothing more as he left. Leaving me even more confused. Fye had just told me something about his past, something he seemed desperate to avoid at all costs. Why would he tell me something like that when he seemed to much closer to Kurogane than anyone else?

I sighed slightly before laying back down and pushing the question from my mind, closing my eyes and waiting for Sakura to come in before actually falling asleep so I wouldn't have to wake up to the sounds of the door closing.

The next morning Fye was as cheerful as ever, as if nothing had happened and unpleasant memories had never been stirred up. I frowned at him, but he only smiled, taking little to no notice of my inability to wake up quickly. I still woke up before Sakura though.

"Syaoran-kun and Kuro-puppy already left! They fought some Kijis last night while you and Sakura were asleep." I blinked tiredly at him, not really caring that the two real fighters in our group had kicked some butt and left to cash in, I was too tired to care. Fye continued smiling brightly at me for a few moments before shoving silverware and napkins at me, "Can you set the tables?"

That I could do. I'd seen the way tables were set before, back in my country. Those were unhappy memories.

* * *

Forgive me for day-late-ness. I had to finish writing this last night because of school crap that's keeping me busy.

I might not be updating on a regular basis for a while, with college sign-ups and work and whatnot.

Also, I found Fye's full history xD on a relatively reliable site, so if you learn anything new about Fye from my fic, then I'm going to risk it and say it's more than likely to be true.


	17. Day at Work

When Sakura finally woke up, Fye decided to drag me out to go shopping with him, leaving the manju bun and the ditzy girl in charge of the café. Why he did something so monumentally idiotic is beyond me, but he did and I wasn't awake enough to argue with him. It was strange really, Fye wasn't being as annoying as usual, draping himself around my shoulders and saying annoying things, instead he was just smiling, his arms behind his head, walking along as though he didn't have a care in the world, but he did, I could tell, even sleepy.

After a while he glanced over at me, one blue eye open and trained on my face, "Neeee, Shii-birdy!" I didn't say anything, but I did look at him, "Don't tell anyone about what I told you last night, ne?"

I shrugged, mumbling, "Wasn't going to. Your business, you choose who knows, I don't."

"Awww! Thank you Shii-lii!" she shouted, abruptly hugging me from the side, his ridiculous manner back and unwanted, but I suppose it was better for him to be like that than be strangely un-Fye-like. I guess, "Oh, Kuro-pon told me you talked to him about your curse when he asked." I nodded, "If I asked would you tell me?" I shrugged, "Do you like Kuro-pon more?" I shrugged again, "Do you like anyone more than anyone else?"

"Not really."

"So you like us all the same?"

"Yeah."

"So you like us?"

"I guess."

"YAY! LITTLE BIRDY LIKES US!"

"You sound like a four year old."

"A four year old that you like."

"In a way. I guess."

For some reason, the way I tried to push him away didn't work. It usually did, at least with other people, but with this strange magician, space didn't matter, he didn't care, he wanted to be close to people without really being close to them, know them without really knowing them. There's an equality in friendship that he seemed to disregard, Fye knew plenty about the rest of us, but none of us really knew anything about him, other than me as of last night. I knew he'd lost someone close to him once, as I had lost my brother. For some reason I felt that brought Fye and I closer in some strange metaphysical sense. That hardly meant I liked him more or less than I did anyone else, but Fye had gotten me thinking about the whole liking people business. I'd never been close to anyone except my brother and my best friend, but they were both gone now, my best friend hated me due to the now-lifted-curse, my brother dead. My only 'friends' were the four, five if Mokona counted as a person, that I traveled with. I wasn't sure how much I liked the five of them, but I hadn't decided to stay in my world after the curse had lifted and I wasn't planning on staying in Outo country either. It just seemed like the natural thing to do was to go along with them and help Syaoran and Sakura with their quest, see Kurogane off back to his own world and keep traveling. I wasn't sure why, I'd never really been fond of traveling before, unless it was in a carriage or some other mode of transportation that didn't end up with physical exhaustion. The group had changed me, possibly for the better.

Then I noticed Fye got distracted by something. He had wandered off to the side of the street, looking through the window of a shop that had absolutely nothing to do with grocery shopping. Since the blond had succeeded in waking me up, I figured that I would have to succeed in keeping him on track.

He was looking at a piano, "Shii-kii, what's this?"

"A piano. You've never seen one?"

"Nope, can you play?" I nodded, "Hyuu, that's amazing."

"Not really."

* * *

Fye and Kurogane had one of their normal yelling bouts, Fye laughing and running away from an angry Kurogane whom I wholeheartedly agreed with. Our names were beyond ridiculous and Kurorin had just discovered that we could not change them without leaving and re-entering the country first, but if we did that, all the money we had made would be gone. Their game of cat and mouse ended with the two of them leaving to check out some lead they'd gotten on a feather or something similar, leaving me and the 'kids' in charge of the café while they were gone. Meaning Syaoran was really in charge because I wasn't friendly enough to play waitress.

Only moments after they left and Syaoran was dressed in waiter's clothing, the door slammed open and I looked out from behind the counter, where I would be giving the ordered food to the other two. Two people walked inside, one was a woman and the other a boy around Syaoran's age, not that I knew how old he was. They sat down and the other two proceeded to do their jobs, so I went back to putting away what Fye had left out. I would have kept doing that if a sudden crash hadn't grabbed my attention.

In the front, Syaoran was fighting with the customer, though from the clean break in the table, I figured it was the customer's fault; he _was_ the one with the sword and all. I wasn't going to waste any time and let the place be torn to shreds, Sakura already looked like she was going to start crying and the attacker seemed to be preparing a special attack of some kind. So I hopped over the counter, delivered a quick blow with the flat of my hand to the kid's fingers and grabbed his weapon when his grip faltered. A moment later I was standing a table or two away, laying the large sword on an empty table and glaring back at the two combatants as one of the two from yesterday bonked the kid in the head, scolding him for breaking stuff in other people's cafés.

Then they all turned to look at me. That wasn't uncomfortable at _all_. Finally the kid spoke up, "Who are you."

I didn't say anything, there was no way I was going to repeat a pathetic sounding name, no matter how much I didn't dislike the idiot who gave it to me. Syaoran however, didn't seem to mind answering that question, "Li-Little Birdy."

"If you can stop breaking things, you can have your weapon back," I grumbled, giving the two brown haired boys a level look, "But if you can't and you want it back, you're very welcome to leave."

"Ah… sorry." I tossed the kid back his sword as he apologized and returned to the back of the counter, ignoring most of their conversation until the woman called me over. With a frown at the annoying name, I went over to them.

"You're pretty quiet." the big man sitting next to her commented. I only nodded silently in response and he laughed, "But you're strong. I didn't expect that."

"With a name like hers, one wouldn't." the woman nodded in agreement.

"I didn't choose the name. The blond did."

"Big Kitty?" I nodded again at the big man and he once more responded with a laugh, "That guy's got a strange sense of humor."

"Why aren't you a Kiji hunter as well?" the woman asked curiously, "You seem to have a talent for fighting."

"Teams of two." I sighed, wiping down the counter with a damp cloth, "No partner."

"What about Big Kitty?"

"He'd rather do this and I'd rather not partner with him."

"Little Kitty?"

"Does she look like she can fight?"

The two of them laughed at me and I wasn't enjoying it, nor did I understand what was so funny. Instead of bothering to try, I excused myself and let the other two be social because I certainly wasn't going to be. I didn't like people, much less the ones who were friends with ones who liked to break stuff that wasn't theirs.

* * *

I meant for this chapter to be a lot longer when I was writing it, but this seemed to be a good ending spot and I was too hungry to think. My brain doesn't work when I'm hungry and... I'm too lazy to spent an hour cooking, by that time I would have forgotten I was hungry. Yes, that is possible, for me at least.

Also, I want to thank everyone who has been reviewing, it helps a lot, since I'm not confident in my writing. Probably never really will be, but I'm going to keep doing it anyway. Also, I don't know how often chapters will be coming out for a while. I graduate in a few weeks and family starts coming out next week and all. I'll try to be on time, but like I said... I'm not sure about it. Especially with how this chapter was late. Dorry about that.


	18. Drinks

"Meow."

"Meow."

"Meow."

"Meow!"

"Meow?"

"!"

"WILL YOU THREE SHUT UP!"

"MEOW!"

"Why did you let him come back with those?" I grumbled unhappily, glaring at everything because I couldn't decide **what** to glare at. Kurogane had come back with Fye thrown over his shoulder due to an injury to his foot, the blond carrying a bag of alcoholic beverages which he had proceeded to pass out as though they were candy. I didn't take any though, I didn't like alcohol, I never had and the last time I'd had any to drink I'd passed out relatively quickly. I did not want to pass out in the middle of the café with a bunch of other drunken monkeys and I wasn't quite sure that Kurogane could handle getting them all to bed on his own; he'd been drinking as well, though he still seemed sober. That hardly mattered though, as long as Sakura, Mokona and Fye thought they were cats, getting them to do anything other meow would be difficult.

Kurogane didn't answer my question, instead he grumbled unhappily and turned around, staring outside while sitting next to Syaoran, the only other one who didn't seem drunk at the moment. Too bad I didn't think it would last for long, he was still a kid and most kids wouldn't be able to hold their alcohol. I was proven right moments later when Syaoran began proclaiming his thanks to Kurogane while bowing to Mokona. That seemed to be the last straw for Kurogane, he stood and yelled for everyone to go to bed, but it seemed no one paid any attention to him. Three of the group were still making cat sounds while Syaoran was using a ladle as though it were a katana. The group only got stranger and stranger as I spent time with them, but damn did they get annoying.

* * *

I woke up in time for Kurogane to tell me that I would be accompanying him and Syaoran for the day. Strange as that was, but I didn't argue, those two were the least annoying of the five. We'd left before Fye had a chance to wake up and as Sakura was opening the doors to the café, without the hangover that Syaoran had. While we walked, Kurogane chastised the kid for drinking too much and decided that no one would have alcohol from then on, with the exception of possibly himself because he hadn't drank himself into stupidity.

During the time that I had been silently trailing along behind them, we'd come upon the shop that Kurogane must have been looking for. As we entered I looked around, impressed with many of the weapons that were on display. The shop had everything from cannons to my usual throwing knives, though they certainly weren't my preferred weapon. The puppies began speaking with the shop owner while I wandered over to the bows and began examining them. I preferred archery over most other methods of fighting, brute strength had never been something I was particular good at since I didn't have all that much weight to throw around, but I knew how to use my opponents weight against them and did that for the most part. Despite that, archery was still something that I preferred, I was better at slinging arrows in rapid succession than hand-to-hand or fighting with daggers.

It seemed that Kurogane had noticed the distraction the distance weapons caused and called me over as the shop owner directed someone who looked suspiciously similar to Masayoshi about the shop. The swordsman looked down at me and asked in his normal gruff tone, "You an archer?"

"By preference and skill level one could say that." I replied blandly, "The throwing knives, daggers and other close combat items were not used by choice."

"So, you're saying you're better at using a bow than you are the daggers, right?" I nodded, "Then I suppose we'll have to buy 'em both."

"Why?"

"Just in case."

If arguing wouldn't have been completely pointless, I might have said something about the price tags on all the weapons they were looking at, but I didn't because Kurogane, while still going to be unhappy about the price, probably wouldn't change his mind and I didn't feel like wasting my energy trying the impossible. Not if I was going to have to deal with a certain hung over blond later.

"This girl is registered as a Kiji hunter as well?" the old shop keeper asked.

"Archery is a hobby for her," Kurogane lied unconvincingly. The old man didn't look as though he believed him, but shrugged and began to tell them the prices as I zoned out and stared at nothing in particular. As soon as Syaoran paid for the weapons, Kurogane told me to go back to the shop and keep a certain blond from getting anyone else drunk, just in case. With a small shrug of my shoulders, I consented and returned to the café.

Sakura greeted me when I entered and I replied with a nod before putting my new bow in the room the desert princess and I shared, as soon as I walked out I was ambushed by Fye, "Little Birdie! Where did you go?"

"Out."

"With the doggie duo?" I nodded, "I like how quiet you are, my head still hurts, hyuu!" As he spoke, he once again draped his arms over me and I frowned, shooting him a glare before trudging off toward the café doors, dragging the blond along with me.

"Do your job."

"Why didn't you drink with us last night?" he questioned, opening one eye and looking at me with that same smile he always wore. It was beginning to seem faker and faker, especially since he'd told me something he'd kept hidden from the others. I didn't dignify his question with a response and proceeded to gather the objects necessary for washing dishes, "Shirai-rai!" Fye called, with a sigh I turned to glare at him only to find a bottle pressed against my lips, "Here!"

My eyes widened in shock and I tried to push him away, but when it comes to alcohol, I'm unfortunately a lightweight, and instead my eyes drooped for a moment before closing, after that I only remembered strange bits of conversation.

"_Oh, she fell asleep."_

"_Fye-san! What happened to Shirai-san?"_

"_She fell asleep! I'm going to put Shii-pii in her room, K?"_

"_Wha! Fye! Kuro-pon's gunna get mad at you!"_

"_Hee hee!"_

My head hurt, a lot. When I opened my eyes I realized something important, I wanted to seriously hurt a certain blond magician. I stood up and sighed, at least I didn't have a hangover, though with only a mouthful of alcohol that would be hard, but my head still hurt, so I was going to take it out on the cause. As I walked out of the room and down the stairs, I managed to calm down a bit, to the point where I wouldn't kill him, but he was going to get it. Almost the second I walked into the café area, Fye came twirling over, "Little Birdie!" I didn't let him drape himself over my shoulders this time, instead I slapped his hands away and backhanded him before walking out the door without a word.

I was overreacting, but I was angry.

More than angry actually. I was pissed off.

Who did he think he was? Forcing something on me like my parents had done before they all but abandoned me after I turned Hariin down, like Hariin had done to me with the curse and tried to do every day after? I couldn't count the times things had been forced on me, like what Fye had done with the alcohol, I hated it, every time something had been forced on me, every time that I didn't have the choice in my own life, every time someone had made the choice for me. My parents, Hariin, Hariin's parents and now Fye was doing it as well. I couldn't stand that kind of attitude, he thought he could get away with anything, just like Hariin.

But I couldn't bring myself to hate Fye.

It was more than an hour before I was able to calm down and think clearly, before I was able to realize that alcohol wasn't really all that big a deal. The stupid magician probably thought I had been missing out on the fun, he didn't know what my life had been like before, he couldn't have known much more than anyone else. The only knowledge he had that no one else had was that I had a brother who'd been killed by Hariin.

I thought of my brother, he'd never lost his temper like I had. He'd always been loved by those around him, but because of his rebelliousness our parents took greater measures to train me to be like them and Kai had done all he could to help me grow up to be normal. It didn't seem that anything had worked, I was far from normal now. I remembered how we'd looked like twins when we were younger, the same pale skin, green eyes and black hair, but as I grew older my hair gained a blue tint that his did not, his skin grew darker from his time in the town while mine stayed pale from never being able to go outside. He'd been able to make me smile, to make me laugh, to make me happy, but he was gone and it seemed that I hadn't smiled since.

There were many things I should have been happy about, more than happy, absolutely ecstatic about, like the removal of my curse, but even then I hadn't been able to do much more than thank everyone for their help. I should have been able to laugh at everyone when they were drunk.

I should have been able to shrug off what Fye had done.

Now I was sitting in a park, alone, in the middle of the night, blowing off what little steam was left. I couldn't keep being angry at the blond, it wasn't really his fault, but I wasn't going to apologize for smacking him, he'd needed it, there are boundaries that people just shouldn't cross and he'd crossed one. Hopefully I had burned that bridge and he wouldn't do something so incredibly asinine again. Hopefully, but doubtful.

"Hey, what are you doing out here all by yourself?"

I tensed, like I always did when someone I didn't know began talking to me, but nevertheless I looked up to face a young man around my age, with deep burgundy hair he'd tied back and dark blue eyes. He seemed like a relatively nice guy, he wasn't using that tone that other people seemed to use when they were trying to get something out of a girl, but one could never be too sure, "Why?"

"Well… It's kinda dangerous for a girl to be out alone at this hour. Especially with the kijis acting up lately."

It took a moment, but I did vaguely remember Kurogane and Syaoran saying something about the Kijis being hunting objects and that they didn't attack anyone other than a Kiji Hunter and I certainly was not one of those, but it was strange for a stranger to show concern to another stranger, "I can handle myself."

"Oh, you're a Kiji Hunter then?" I shook my head and the young man frowned, taking a seat next to me on the wooden bench, "If you can fight, then why not?"

I shrugged, having no idea why I wasn't one other than not having a partner, but I could have gotten one, or simply hunted solo, but instead I was working in the café, washing dishes since I couldn't seem to do much else.

The guy's frown deepened and after a moment of what looked like deep yet painful thought, he held out his hand and said, "I'm Ryu, what's your name?"

_That was random_ I thought, slightly annoyed, "I'd rather not say."

"Oh? Why not?"

"I didn't choose my name here."

"A friend did?"

"You could say that."

"Well, if you're in this place with friends, then what are you doing out here by yourself?"

"Calming down."

"Oh… um… I should probably let you do that then, huh?"

"That would be nice." I mumbled sarcastically.

"Okay then."

But he didn't leave, instead this strange guy continued to sit next to me, in the park, in the middle of the night, deciding on his own that leaving someone alone was not talking to them.

Another Fye?

Why was I thinking about him so much?

* * *

Sorry for the incredibly late post T^T

My computer was broken for a really long time and when we finally got that fixed, the internet stopped working and it hasn't been working right lately Dx

Though it's finally all fixed and I will try to get two more chapters up as soon as possible!


	19. Piano

I don't remember how long I sat there, in the middle of the night, on a park bench, with some guy I didn't know and wasn't talking to. I was there for a very long time, taking steady breaths and letting myself think things through, but it was hard. It was hard because I'd been feeling to many long lost emotions lately, I'd been with too many people doing too many things, crazy things. I was helping to look for… Kai help me, magical feathers that restored the memory of a princess from a strange desert country. Magical feathers. That sounded crazy, even to me and I'd had an insane prince stalking me for years. Wow… I had finally come to the conclusion that not only was I traveling with crazy people… I was crazy people. What a great revelation.

Then a small smirk found its way to my lips, my old, sarcastic personality was coming back, the one that Kai had practically given me, the one that had come about when I became a teenager and decided that start back-talking my parents, only in a respectful sounding way so that it was understood I was pissed, but didn't sound like it. All it took was a mouthful of alcohol, a pissed of exit, and an annoying blond magician to orchestrate the whole thing; though I doubted he knew all this would happen. That strange blond had done more to help me than most people had done to avoid me, he'd helped lift my curse, helped me to partially regain my personality and had even given me someone to talk to; once. It was rather amazing that one person could be so annoying and so helpful at the same time, but I decided I would never tell him that he helped, then he would try to 'help' more and only make things worse, not better.

Finally I sighed and looked up at the stars, they were different here than the stars I was used to, but not by too much. As I stargazed, the young man next to me, Ryu, sighed aloud, "Feeling better?"

"Personal epiphanies do a great deal for the psyche." I muttered, "But you didn't."

He laughed nervously, but didn't leave, "You're kind of harsh, you know?"

"Of course."

"And… blunt…" he sighed, standing up and stretching, "But you don't seem like a bad person. Maybe we could hang out someti-"

"LITTLE BIRDIE!"

I swear I twitched at the sound of that voice. I recognized it immediately and while I may have mentally complimented the owner once or twice a few moments ago, it didn't mean I wasn't still at least slightly upset with him. So I pretended I hadn't heard him, but Ryu, who obviously had, had also seen me twitch and raised an eyebrow, "Little Birdie?"

"I said I didn't pick the name."

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you so mad!"

With a sigh I stood up and gave the blond an almost weak glare, "Whatever. See ya, Ryu."

"Um, yeah…"

Fye followed me, apologizing one or two more times before getting right to his other point, "So, who was that guy? Did he look like someone from your world?"

"No." I replied dully, speeding up my pace as I did so, but that didn't deter the magician, he followed me all the way back to the café, questioning me every moment of that time, until we got inside and he stopped, probably because of Kurogane, but I couldn't imagine Fye stopping something because Kurogane had threatened him, he didn't ever stop annoying Kurogane when Kurogane threatened him, so why would he stop annoying me because Kurogane threatened him?

Then Sakura came running over to me, crying, "Are you ok?"

"Um… yeah."

"I thought something bad might have happened to you!"

Well, now I knew why Fye had stopped annoying me, my disappearance had gotten Sakura all messed up. I wondered if someone had let slip to her that the Kiji's were attacking normal people, or if someone had said something about what happens to other, weaker girls who go out by themselves in the middle of the night, I was betting on the second one, "I'm… fine." It was strange, having people that actually cared around me, I wasn't used to it, not since Kai had died had anyone worried about my well being and yet here was a princess of all people, crying because she had been worried for my safety. I guess all royals weren't like Hariin, Sakura was more than proof of that, "Sorry…"

The younger girl smiled brightly and gave me a hug, which more than surprised me, in fact the second she wrapped her arms around me, I froze and looked down with a mask of shock and confusion, until Fye started laughing at me.

* * *

I didn't sleep much that night, instead I just sat on my bed; thinking about how things had changed since the strange group had appeared in a confused jumble on my lawn. The curse was gone, my voice was back, Mokona couldn't read my mind anymore, I had, spirits forbid, friends. It was so strange, new and just weird. I couldn't get used to it, the only thing I could get used to was being able to walk around with getting glared at, without people looking down on me because of the curse. That was nice.

When I went downstairs, I saw the puppies leaving and mentally groaned, it would be another day with Fye and Mokona. Almost as soon as I walked into the café area of the house, I wished I'd left with Kurogane and Syaoran. Fye had purchased the piano we'd seen a few days ago and was now trying to play it and failing horribly. The blond magician either had no musical talent, or had never tried to play a piano before.

"You're doing it wrong." I muttered as I walked passed, but I didn't get too far. Fye had jumped up and grabbed my wrist, keeping me from going anywhere else unless I really wanted to drag the bond with me, and I suspected that, if he really wanted to, Fye would be able to keep me from going anywhere.

"Then why don't you show us!"

"I don't like to play."

"PLEASE!"

I was going to shrug him off, but Sakura gave me this look of pure amazement and adoration and I just decided it would be easier to give up and play a song. So I sighed, "Fine," and sat down on the piano bench. It had been years since the last time I'd played the piano, and I'd never played because I wanted to, no, I'd always played because my parents had said it was a lady-like thing to do and they had forced me to learn. For a while it had been an escape, then they kept yelling at me to do better and better and how I could never be good enough to please them. They made me hate piano.

I started off slowly, barely able to remember much about playing the instrument, but after touching a few keys, I began to remember and soon enough my fingers were gliding across the keys, a song from long ago filling the empty café. When I finished, Fye whistled in his strange, nonwhistling way and Sakura began to clap, along with Mokona, "That was really pretty!"

That was the first compliment I'd ever received about the piano, it was… nice. A small smile tugged at my lips and I replied to her compliment, "Thanks."

* * *

Well at least I got a second chapter out as an apology for taking so long.

It's short though, sorry...


	20. OMG Chapter 20!

I should have known a hell of a lot better than to tell Fye that I could play the piano and even more than that, I should have known better than to actually play the piano in front of him, but no, I just had to sit down and play that damned instrument didn't I? Of course I did and now I was suffering for it, now I was playing the damn thing every day because it drew in customers, lured them to stay longer and enjoy themselves more and so day after day, I had to actually be where people could not only see me, but talk to me. It was really annoying when, between songs, some guys a bit younger than me decided to come up and make some rather weakly disguised comments. What had I done to attract this attention? Oh, that's right, I had stupidly agreed to play the piano for Sakura while Fye was present. Great, I had brought this down upon myself.

Luckily Kurogane had shown up and scared them off before I had a chance to all but kill them, saving both the younger boys and my patience, though the latter was only temporarily intact. It would remain that way until the shop had closed and they invited friends over. So three out of the four extra people were now staring at me as they ate whatever treat Fye had given them and drank their tea or whatever. I was still playing the piano because Sakura had asked me to play another song for them, with puppy dog eyes, when she did that she reminded me of Kai, back when he would have to turn that look on me, his younger sister, to get me outside the house. Go figure that when I finally leave for good, someone else does the exact same thing to get me to do something else… and it worked.

As the song I as playing slowly came to an end, they started clapping, all of them. Fye, Kurogane (though he didn't look impressed at all), Sakura, Mokona, Souma, Yuzuriha and Kusanagi. Though Fye and Mokona seemed to be clapping way too hard for a song they'd heard yesterday. They didn't seem to bright though, so who knows, maybe they didn't realize ti was actually another song, though for some reason, I think they were just clapping because they thought clapping was fun; but I don't think I know them all that well. As soon as I covered the keys, Yuzuriha bounded over to me, a curious look on her face, "Does it hurt your fingers to play the piano all day?"

"They get a little stiff, but they don't hurt."

"Why do they get stiff?"

"Because I haven't played in a very long time."

She looked at me with an almost excited expression that suddenly turned apprehensive, "Could you teach me how to play?"

"I don't teach." I replied simply, the girl didn't want to go through the hell that was following my orders, especially since the only way I knew how to teach piano was the way I was taught and I was not taught kindly. I could already see the "Why not?" on her lips and forced myself to keep from sighing aloud.

Before she could speak however, the front door slammed open, revealed a bruised and battered Ryuuoh and Syaoran, both sweating profusely and out of breath. They had obviously run to the café and from the looks on their faces, something had happened, something big and dangerous, meaning it was probably something to do with one of Sakura's feathers, "We saw it…" Ryuuoh panted, trying to catch his breath while speaking at the same time, "The new one, the new kiji!"

Everyone just about jumped up, surrounding the two boys, asking a flurry of questions, but Ryuuoh shouted slightly, just enough to be heard over the massive questioning, "We ran, there were too many of them."

As I stood, ready to slip away, I saw a faraway look on Syaoran's face, as though he were remembering something from a very long time ago, something that his most recent run-in with the Kijis had brought up, something big and disquieting. I wasn't the only one who noticed the strange facial expression he made and Sakura soon pushed a little closer to her friend and guardian, "Syaoran, what's wrong?" I stopped, waiting for an answer as well, it wasn't often that Syaoran had flashbacks and from the look on his face, he'd just had one. I knew that look, I'd worn it myself many times.

He looked up, meeting her eyes for only a second before looking away again, "I think… I think I might have known the man that was with the Kijis. The person who taught me how to fight." Everyone stared at him, shocked and I wasn't entirely sure he liked the attention.

So, as an effort to help him as he'd done for me many times, I asked, "Are you sure?"

Syaoran nodded slightly, "He looked right at me and smiled." I nodded as well, it seemed more than obvious that the man with the Kijis knew Syaoran. It couldn't be so simple as someone who just happened to look exactly like him, as had been common in our travels, but if the man recognized him…

"Wah, he seems friendly!" Fye grinned, breaking the silence that had grown among the others during my exchange with Syaoran, but this time, no one appreciated his subtle humor.

"You should get some sleep. Go." I walked over to the young boy and pushed him toward the stairs slightly, "You could just be tired."

"Yeah… that could be it." He mumbled, walking off.

A second later, I shot Kurogane a look, one that he would understand because he seemed to be feeling the same way and within a few moments the swordsman had succeeded in getting rid of our guests without actually offending them. Then Fye sent Sakura upstairs to check on Syaoran before sitting down at a table, indicating for Kurogane and I to do the same. When we sat down, the blond magician let out one of his normal fake whistling sounds, "Hyuu, I didn't think you cared so much, Rairai."

"He was uncomfortable with the attention. It's not exactly a picnic knowing someone who goes around attacking people." I grumbled, _I would know_. No one said anything about that, they already knew, especially after having been to my world only a few days ago, but somehow, despite the topic, Kurogane remained as sour looking as always, Fye as happy as ever and I suppose I still looked as bored as I always did, but I wasn't looking in a mirror so how was I supposed to know.

Kurogane mumbled a few things under his breath before finally looking up and saying, "It's strange that the kid knows him and that it seems to be the real guy."

"I don't think it's a coincidence."

Fye raised an eyebrow at me, opening one blue eye for the first time in I don't know how long, I don't pay attention to these things, "You think it's one of Sakura's feathers?" he asked, his voice _almost_ serious. My answer was in the form of a silent nod and something passed through his eyes, kind of like a thoughtful gleam, if that's what it's called, almost as though Fye had an idea, one he thought might work. Perhaps it was an idea that had to do with the café and he simply couldn't stay on track.

Kurogane grunted in annoyance and stood up, "There's nothing we can do right now. Just gather more information in the café."

"You can't expect me to talk to those morons." I muttered under my breath, frowning.

I hadn't quite said it low enough apparently and they both looked at me oddly, apparently I hadn't been sarcastic enough lately, but Kurogane smirked, "Those punks who hit on you?"

The magician's blue eyes widened and he looked almost horrified, but it was a comical horrified, "Someone hit Little Birdie! How would hit such a delicate creature!"

I stared at him blankly before deciding to say something I doubted either of them would ever think could come out of my mouth, "No one touched me, they just wanted to get in my pants." With that, I simply stood up and walked away, not looking back to see if either of them were shocked by the words themselves or what they meant. Either way I'd had my little bit of fun for the night and turned in.

* * *

The next morning, I was helping Sakura wash dishes, since the café wasn't actually open. Until she passed out. When she suddenly closed her eyes and started to fall backwards my mind went blank, but I moved anyway, my body reacting reflexively before my mind could figure out what was going on. I caught her before she hit the ground, but when she fell, the soapy water from her hands and the sink had sloshed on the floor and soon after I caught her, I fell on my butt. When Fye came in to see what happened, I was frowning unhappily, sitting on the floor, with an unconscious desert princess in my lap and bubbles in my hair.

Fye started laughing, but he eventually picked Sakura up and placed her on the couch while I went to go wash the stupid soapy bubbles from my hair. When I came back, I heard Mokona saying, "No one would hate you for smiling happily, Fye." I couldn't see the look on the blond's face, but for some reason, I imagined that same saddened expression he had worn when he spoke of losing someone dear to him and I felt like I knew at least a little of the pain he was feeling, "You too, Shirai, no one would be mad at you for smiling."

As Fye turned around to see me standing there, I just shook my head at the white fluff ball, "I'm sorry Mokona, but I would hate myself." I wouldn't be able to smile until I had finally let go of all the pain that had accumulated in my mind and body over the period of my life time. To smile I would have to give up the immense hatred that had kept me going since Kai died, I would have to let him go and I couldn't.

I felt ashamed when my ears prickled with the telltale signs of oncoming tears and turned away from them, I still didn't feel as though I belonged with this group, but at the same time, I knew that I couldn't be anywhere else but with them and it was complicated to deal with at the moment. I wasn't just regaining myself, but it seemed like I was gaining friends or even a new family and I just didn't think I was ready for that yet.

"Shirai-rai…" Mokona mumbled after me, but I simply shook my head again, without looking back, "You don't have to dwell on the past anymore. I don't know what happened, but I know it wasn't your fault and deep down, Rai-rai, you know that too, I can tell. You don't have to be guilty anymore, you can let it go."

"I can't." my reply was immediate and my tone bordering on venomous, "You don't know what you're talking about Mokona, you have no idea. It is my fault and it will _always be my fault_!" I walked away from them, I knew they hadn't seen the tears that had begun streaming down my face, but I wasn't going to give them the chance. I returned to the room that Sakura and I shared, throwing myself face first onto the bed. It felt as though my own emotions were choking me and for the first time I realized I had never grieved properly for my brother, I hadn't been allowed…

* * *

_"Mother, Father, why is it that you wanted to see me?" I asked as soon as I had entered my father's study, leaving the maid who escorted me at the door. It wasn't often that my parents called upon me and usually when they did, Kai was also present, but as I glanced around, I noticed my brother was nowhere to be seen. Just my emotionless parents._

_ My father looked up as I entered and nodded at the butler standing at the door. The man left, closing the door behind him. Now my father turned his eyes toward me, they held as much feeling as his face did; none. His black eyes watched me carefully, searching for any form of mistake in my behavior and etiquette before he finally decided to speak, "I have discomforting news, Shirai. It would seem as though your foolish brother opposed Prince Hariin and was put to death for treason."_

_ My eyes widened, that bastard prince had killed my brother? I was shocked into a numbed silence, my eyes slightly widened, pupils dilated and while I'm sure both my father and mother noticed these things, they didn't seem to care. Finally my mother opened her mouth and I hoped that for some reason she would she at least show a hint of grief at the death of her only son, of her first born, of her__** child**__, but instead she spoke with the same even tone as Father, "I do hope you learn from this, my daughter. Our family has been disgraced enough throughout the years by both you and your brother. You will accept Prince Hariin's generous marriage proposal tomorrow morning. If you do not, then I do not know what will be in store for you."_

_ "Other than what we will do if you refuse again," my father intercepted, "If you turn down this proposal, we will disown you and you will live as an outcast, banished from this country."_

_ They didn't care at all, they had no emotion whatsoever. Their only son and heir had just been murdered by a power hungry cretin of a prince and they told me, their only daughter, to marry my brother's murderer? I couldn't focus on them or the rest of the room, everything seemed to be spinning and drained of color. I vaguely remembered nodded slightly and excusing myself. Upon returning to my room, my mind was spinning, I wanted to scream, shriek, do anything to let out the feelings that were tearing me apart. My brother was gone. My only real friend was dead. Killed by the man I had always viewed as a troublesome brat, but now I knew how far that man would go to get what he wanted and he was no longer a man, in my eyes Hariin was no longer even human. He was nothing more than a wild beast, a monster. Something that needed to be put down._

_ It would never happen, I knew. Hariin's father adored him, a number of the citizenry adored him, his façade was loved by everyone who was too foolish to be blinded by it. I had always seen through his mask and now… now it was my fault that monster had taken my brother away from me for good. I would __**never**__ forgive him. Just as I would never be able to forgive my parents for feeling nothing even when their son was murdered and their daughter torn apart from the inside. I would never forgive them for caring only about their social status, their image. I would turn Hariin down again. Even if it meant dying._

_

* * *

_

_**CRASH!**_

I sat up quickly, wiping my tears from my face and listening closely, something didn't seem right. Something was… wrong. The I heard a shout, "FYE!"

It was Mokona and he was terrified. I grabbed my bow, quiver and the daggers that Kurogane and Syaoran had taken me to get before running out of the room and down the stairs, only to see shadow-like creatures swarming around the blond. A man stood before him, cloaked with a hood partially covering his head, but I could see the different colored eyes and dark hair. It took less than a second for me to string my bow and pull an arrow into place, taking aim at the man standing in the midst of the shadow creatures, the Kijis. I didn't care if this was the man that taught Syaoran how to fight, I wasn't going to let someone else die, not Fye, not anyone.

I let the arrow fly just before throwing myself to the ground to avoid one of the creatures that had come toward me. I heard Mokona call my name as well, and Fye turned, a shocked look engulfing his features as I let another arrow loose from my position on the floor. The shadow creatures were getting in the way, taking the onslaught from my arrows before they could even reach the man controlling them. Swearing loudly, I threw one of my many knives at the man as Fye yelled for me to run, but it wasn't happening, I couldn't keep running away from my problems, or those who tried to hurt the people around me. I had run from Hariin and my parents, but I was not going to run from this cloaked shadow fag. Fye finally figured out that I wasn't going to run and began throwing darts at the Kijis and the man controlling them, but they converged on the blond magician and within moments I couldn't see him anymore. Running forward, I stabbed the Kijis and tried to pull them off, but they dispersed on their own and Fye was no longer there. He was gone. Dead. I had failed, again.

My shoulders sagged for a brief moment, before I was filled with rage and turned toward the man in the cloak, snarling, "Sick bastard." The man smiled innocently, as though he had done the most natural thing in the world by killing Fye, then the Kijis focused on me. I heard Mokona shout my name again, but the creatures had already surrounded me. I shouted furiously as I stabbed as many as I could, but it was useless. An intense pain engulfed my body and I choked out another insult before everything became darkness.

* * *

WOOT! Chapter 20!

I was going to make this chapter extra extra long, but then I realized that I couldn't keep them in this country for too much longer and I had the perfect ending for it ^-^''

As you can see though, I'm going to try to get back on the updating every Friday schedule, but I don't know how well it will turn out. Review please! =3


	21. Fake World

When I opened my eyes, I was amazed that I'd opened my eyes. In all honesty I'd thought I'd died trying to- I didn't even want to think about it. Shaking my head I told myself I did not do what I had thought I did, I couldn't have. I didn't.

"Shirai-rai?"

Oh damn… I had hadn't I? I had gone and got myself killed trying to kill the guy who killed Fye. Why did I do that? Oh yeah, because I care more than I want myself to think. I frowned, not paying attention to the blond that was banging on the glass surrounding me. Instead, I crossed my arms and glared at nothing, trying to figure out why I cared so much. It wasn't that I felt like I owed him and Kurogane for killing Hariin… for lifting my curse. That wasn't it, I was grateful to them, yeah, but that wasn't why I attacked that man. I had attacked because I was angry, but why was I angry?

Why the hell do I care so much?

"Shii-pii!"

Finally I looked up, glaring at the magician outside the glass, he was smiling happily and stood up inside the glass, still angry with myself. That's when the glass opened, letting me out of it. I was standing outside the strange capsule for all of two seconds before I was nearly knocked over by the insane blond, "What do you want?" I snapped at him reflexively.

He tilted his head questioningly, the smile never leaving his face, the fake smile that only Mokona had really seen through and it finally hit me, "I'm not dead?"

Fye's eyes opened, a shocked look spreading over his face for a fraction of a second before it was replaced with a wider smile than normal, "Nope! Neither am I!"

"Yes, I can see that." I sighed, pushing him away and standing up straight, "But why?"

"Because that world wasn't real." He grinned, grabbing my arm and leading me to a door, "Look!" Sure enough, through the window I could see what looked like an amusement park. Before I had the chance to say anything, I was stopped by a sharp pain in my head and images flashing through my mind, "Remember now?"

I did. I remembered Mokona dropping us all into our own capsules, some people saying to enjoy ourselves and then falling asleep, "Why didn't I remember this before?"

"It's to make the game more enjoyable." I looked to my left and saw a woman standing there, she didn't look happy either, "My name is Chitose, I created the Dream Capsule game."

"Uh-huh…" I said slowly, glaring at her, but that was becoming how I looked at people.

She wasn't fazed by the dirty look and continued talking, "Can either of you inform me of… the man with the Kijis?"

Fye shook his head and I growled angrily, "Not much, other than; he's a stupid bastard." I proceeded to mumble cruel words under my breath. I was paying enough attention to see Fye give me a strange look, but then he turned to the woman called Chitose and explained that the only person with information on the man that killed us was Syaoran.

When the woman left, Fye turned to me and smiled, "You're worked up."

"I'm angry."

"You're always angry."

"Not _this_ angry."

"Hyuu, are you that upset we died?"

"Of course!" I shouted at him, "Aren't you?"

"Nope," he grinned, "It doesn't bother me."

"Well it should!" I snapped, "What are you grinning about?"

"I think I like this version of you best!"

"People don't have versions." I grumbled, glaring at him. I couldn't believe I got mad because I let this guy die, he hadn't even died! There was really no point in my getting angry. Maybe I cared more than I let myself know, maybe Fye knew that and was trying to get me to admit it just because he thought he could. I sighed, I didn't want to think I cared about them, I didn't deserve to care about them and I didn't deserve them caring about me. Not after Kai died because of me, not after that war was started because of me, I wouldn't forgive myself for Kai's death, but at the same time, I knew I wouldn't have accepted Hariin's marriage proposal, I knew that, and so I couldn't forgive myself. I would have chose my brother's death over marriage with Hariin and that was why his death was my fault, that was why I hated myself.

But I couldn't tell them that. I couldn't. Never.

"Oh, look!" Fye shouted, jumping up and running over to the pod with Syaoran's body in it, apparently the kid had died in Outo Country. Fye was knocking on the glass container while Syaoran looked from the blond to me and teared up. From where I was standing, I couldn't hear what Syaoran had said, but I got the idea when Fye said, "Died?"

Soon after he got out of his capsule thing, Syaoran was asking us questions and Fye was answering them, I preferred to glare at nothing, trying to figure out why they cared about me in the slightest, why I cared about them at all and what I could do to stop it. I couldn't let it go on.

My thinking was interrupted when shadow creatures morphed around us, Kijis were appearing outside the game, and soon enough, it was as though the world and the game had merged. Kijis were running around, terrorizing people who had appeared with partially destroyed buildings. At some point while I was lost in thought, Chitose had returned and was telling the kid and the magician that something was horribly wrong. The ground was shaking, making it difficult for us to stand, pieces of the wall and ceiling seemed to be crumbling as the building began to fall apart under the pressure of merging with the game world, "This whole country will be destroyed by the Kijis!"

"We have to do something!" Syaoran shouted, running off. Fye called out to him, but Syaoran's answer was lost in the noise around us. The blond looked at me for a second and we ran after the kid; against my earlier judgment and despite knowing I didn't want to care, I didn't really have a choice. I wouldn't admit I'd grown attached to them and I wouldn't admit that I actually liked the group quite a bit, despite their faults; idiocy, incredible kindness, naivety, excessive friendliness, and the rest.

It only took a few minutes of chasing after the kid to find people we knew in Outo Country, Ryuu-ou and the rest. Syaoran was immediately asking about Sakura, who was asleep still and being watched over by the group. It didn't surprise me that they were all happy to see us, but I didn't know them enough to care, frankly they meant nothing to me, but I would have to protect them to keep the others from being upset. I really cared about the group of four and a fluff ball too much. I would have to seriously think things over as soon as we weren't in a life or death situation.

"Oh no…" Syaoran muttered, bringing me out of my thoughts again, his face had drained of color and he looked frightened, more so than I'd seen him before, frightened and worried, "Seishirou-san… is serious."

I looked up at the battle playing out a good distance away from us. The man that had "killed" Fye and I was now wearing glasses, but his opponent was a fully enraged Kurogane. After watching the battle play out for a moment I spoke in my nomral tone, "So is Kurogane."

"Hyuu?" Fye 'whisteled' as he looked at me with one eyebrow raised, "You can tell?"

With a nod I replied, "Yes. Kurogane seems to be relatively pissed off. That's a special kind of anger, one you only feel when someone close to you has been murdered." I felt multiple pairs of eyes turn to me questioningly, but I kept my own on the fight, watching the battle, the two of them seemed relatively even, but Seishirou was gaining the upper hand. He had more at his disposal than Kurogane did, but the outcome of the battle was still undecided; personally, I didn't think Kurogane knew what losing was and didn't think he would find out anytime soon. In all honesty I believed he would be able to defeat Seishirou, but the battle was interrupted when Mokona shot something out of its mouth that lodged itself in the ground between the two combatants.

Kurogane looked in the direction it had come from and saw us, Fye waved and yelled out something that sounded incredibly feminine, but I expected that, "Yoohoo! Kuro-sama!"

"His anger has dissipated." I muttered, looking for any possible remnants in Kurogane's features, but the anger had disappeared when he saw that we were alive. I suspected Seishirou knew that as well, but Kurogane didn't seem to care. He was still angry, but it was a calmer anger, one that would not help him in this fight. After a moment, Syaoran's teacher sighed and removed one of Sakura's feathers from his chest. He was taunting us.

"That's it!" Chitose cried out from her place behind the fighters, "That thing he's holding… it's power is what's causing the world of Outo to become real!"

That was all it took to send Syaoran running, the kid bolted toward Seishirou and began climbing up and over whatever was in his way before anyone other than me noticed he was doing it. I wasn't surprised, that kid was willing to go through almost anything to help Sakura, he did all he could for her, despite the fact that she would never remember what he meant to her before.

I didn't hear much about the conversation going on between the two and I didn't get to see much of what was happening because Fye decided to start asking me questions, "Ne, Rai-chii." I noted that he was using a new nickname as he spoke, "You know that kind of anger?" I nodded, looking Fye in the eyes, trying to act like I was stronger than I was. It wasn't difficult, the remnants of Hariin's curse were allowing me to hide my emotions easily, as was the memories of my household and how emotions were nothing but a useless waste of time. "Is it because of…" he trailed off, not finishing the sentence, for which I was grateful. I nodded in confirmation and returned my gaze to the man with Sakura's feather and Syaoran. While I had been distracted by Fye, someone else had shown up and I heard the blond let out a shocked noise from beside me, "That woman is from the bar!"

My first instinct was to sarcastically ask if she was the moron who gave him alcohol, but I held back and continued to watch. It was incredibly surprising when she revealed herself to be the strongest demon that I'd occasionally heard Kurogane talking about. It became a conversational exchange between the woman and Seishirou, but as soon as she said that she knew nothing about vampires, he decided to leave. Syaoran attacked again and I couldn't hear their conversation over the roaring of the flames that had come to his aid.

Everything was happening relatively quickly, but when Mokona sprouted his wings again, we all knew it was time to leave. At first, Syaoran seemed hesitant, but the moment Fye explained that Mokona had locked on to the magical signature of the item that Seishirou was using, he began his goodbyes.

* * *

I can not begin to describe how much I hate this chapter, but I wanted to update as soon as I could. My brain isn't working for this story right now, so I might take some time off and re-read it and whatnot, re-plan etc.

I don't want to because I really like the way it was earlier, but this chapter has completely thrown me off. It was difficult and I'm sorry it wasn't better.

Also, I'm sure you've noticed, but I've changed my Pen Name =3 Just wanted to make sure that you guys knew I did it and it wasn't someone who wanted to be the uselessness that is me.


	22. Of Course

"Shii-pii will stay with me right?" his breath was hot in my ear as the blond was once again draped over my shoulders. His hair tickled my chin in an annoying fashion and my green eyes turned to glare into his baby blue ones. For some reason, the blond seemed to think that hanging on me was a good idea, that I was comfortable with it and for some even stranger reason, I had never felt the need to tell him to get off. He wouldn't listen even if I did, I knew that much, but that didn't explain why I didn't say so anyway.

I was a very confused person right then. Still a little baffled about how we'd left Outo Country, or the amusement park it was located in, we'd wound up in a jungle. Fye, Kurogane and I had taken Mokona to scout out the place, or looking for possible human settlements only to return to find Sakura swinging a few feet above the ground in a net of icy, crying. She managed to choke out between frightened sobs that Syaoran had been kidnapped by little people with large ears. Regardless of the people with their large ears, it was confusing to think that the young boy would be kidnapped at all, but he had, apparently, been knocked out by a nut that had clocked him in the back of the head.

Of course we went to look for the boy, only to find him sitting down, eating, with a large group of what looked to me like humanoid rabbits. They had fur, long dropping ears, claws and were gathered around a totem pole. What was really confusing was that Syaoran had been eating with them _after_ they tried to sacrifice him to some invisible demon thing. Of course Mokona would then sense a feather and as everyone got ready to head out, the rabbit things had demanded we leave one behind so they would have a sacrifice should the demon not be defeated.

Of course Fye felt the need to volunteer himself, then me with him.

**Of course** the ridiculous rabbit creatures would shout in pure undaunted joy that they might have _two_ sacrifices rather than one.

Thus, I had been kept behind with the rabbits and the insane blond magician. I sat with my arms folded across my chest, glaring unhappily at absolutely nothing. Fye sat beside me, having already asked the rabbit people plenty of questions that I had effectively tuned out because I was just that angry. The blond grinned at me after a moment, "Shirai-rai! Are you angry?" I nodded once, still glaring at the tree trunk a few yards off, trying not to face the blond man, "At me?" I shook my head. I wasn't angry at him; I didn't mind having to stay with the rabbit people. I complained about it because… I didn't want to admit that yes, they were adorable. I was angry at myself for being so conflicted. "Why are you angry?" When I said nothing, the blond jumped to his own conclusion, "Is it because of all that Mokona said in Outo Country?" I hated that he was smarter than he let on.

Our stay there was short at best. When I had decided to ignore Fye completely, he got caught up with the rabbit people, found that they had the feather Mokona had sensed and followed it up by dancing with them. Only after Syaoran had given Sakura the feather and the tornado they'd told us about hit, did Mokona see fit to transport us out of the world of fluffy bunnies and tropical trees. Of course, Mokona would somehow manage to transport us all to the next world, but in different areas. I had no idea where Syaoran, Sakura, or Mokona were, but I was not happy that I had been dropped off in a tree, a really tall, really sacred, tree.

Luckily, or unluckily as it might be, Kurogane and Fye had been dropped off not too far away from where I was clinging to tree branches. Fye saw me first, "Oh! Look at Shii-rii!" Kurogane looked up and his narrowed eyes widened a little bit in surprise. It wasn't often that you looked up to see a girl you know hanging onto a tree branch for dear life. There was no way on earth I would be able to land from that height and not hurt myself in the process. "Jump down Shii-kii! I'll catch you!" I didn't trust him for some reason. I honestly didn't think Fye would be able to catch me, so there was no way that I was going to jump and let him try. So I just grasped the thin and bending branch tighter.

I heard Kurogane mumble, "I don't think she's coming down that way."

No. I wasn't going to jump into his arms. That was something that happened to pathetic damsels in distress in fairy tales and this was not a fairy tale and I was _not_ a damsel in distress. At least I wasn't, but then there was a sharp cracking sound and the branch I was clinging to broke. My eyes widened as they stared at the remains of the branch in my hands as I fell, the wind pulling my hair up as I thought about killing Mokona. But I never hit the ground. Instead, something came into contact with the back of my knees and my lower back, sliding almost painfully up to the middle of my back, that was followed by a slower, shallower dip and then I was done falling. Unfortunately there was laughter in my ear. "I told you I would catch you!"

I crossed my arms stubbornly and looked away, "Put me down."

"Aw, but I don't want to!" I glared at the blond magician for a moment before pushing at his chest and forcing him to let go.

Once I was standing on my own, I cast the blond an annoyed look and opened my mouth to tell him off, but Kurogane spoke first, "You broke the branch of a sacred tree. We should get out of here."

As we discretely walked away I began to mutter darkly about how I was going destroy Mokona for leaving me in a tree, "I'm going to tear its fluffy little ears off and make it eat them…"

Both Fye and Kurogane each raised an eyebrow at my mutterings, but only Fye decided he needed to say something about it, "Shii-chan! I didn't know you had a dark side! Look! Look! Kuro-rin! She's getting more comfortable with us!"

I frowned and proceeded to ignore the strange blond one. I didn't want to get comfortable with them. I wouldn't have paid them any more attention if Kurogane hadn't decided to take that moment to smack me upside the head. Turning to glare at the much taller male, he returned it with his own, "Stop being so depressed."

That was it. He just smacked me and told me not to be depressed! I glared at nothing, I wasn't depressed at all, there was nothing to be depressed about. I just didn't want to be stuck with Fye and not have any idea where we were, let alone where Mokona, Sakura, and Syaoran were. For some reason, I didn't think our stay in this world would turn out all that enjoyable; but I don't think I'd had an enjoyable stay anywhere just yet. Though, more than likely, I was making it unenjoyable for myself. That was entirely possible, especially considering how I felt about my place with this entirely odd group.

There wasn't much time for me to think about how much I did or did not belong with the rest of them though, people had suddenly jumped from the tree lined path we'd been walking down, shouting about how things from the Yuuka District didn't belong there. I opened my mouth to point out I was not a thing, but this time Fye kept me from speaking, "Yuuka District? What's that? Hmm?"

"Don't play dumb with us!" One of the many, similarly dressed buffoons shouted, pulling a sword from its sheath and jumping forward.

Kurogane smirked almost gleefully, but it was just short of that, it was that dark kind of happiness that only Kurogane gets, "You guys drew first. No complaining when I defeat you all." It took him about two seconds to knock every one of them down, without breaking a sweat, and return to standing like he always did, smirking victoriously. Of course Fye felt the need to ruin the serious atmosphere by clapping and shouting about how cool Kurogane was for being able to beat everyone so swiftly, "You look ridiculous, you know that?"

"I didn't want to interrupt your fun!"

I sighed and unslung my bow from my shoulder before adjusting the string and lining up three arrows at once. It made hitting the target harder and a straight firing line impossible, but I'd been practicing archery for so long that I already knew where the arrows would go when I shot them off. Only a moment after I released the string, sending the arrows flying gracefully toward the target, one of the many people who had drawn their knives on us was pinned to a tree, eyes wide as he stared at me in shock.

A smirk appeared on my lips, I could feel it and I was satisfied with my bowmanship, it had been a while since I'd been able to loose more than a single arrow upon anything, but I was content in the fact that I hadn't lost my touch. I strung another arrow and took aim, but was rudely interrupted by a certain blond that decided it would be a good idea to fling himself at me, and use my shoulders and head as his personal stand. It was incredibly lucky for whatever was in the direction the arrow had been aimed that I gripped the string harder from the slight shock rather than jumping at letting it go flying at whatever. The blond took no notice of my frustration as usually, "Shii-pii is good too. Where did you learn to use a bow like that, huh?" His chin dropped from my head, bringing his smiling face within centimeters of my own as he asked again in a humming song, "Hmmm?"

I shrugged him off with a glare, not only was he trying to embarrass me, but he was putting the both of us in at least a little bit of danger. Despite how tempting it was to beat him over the head with my bow, I turned back to the people who'd attacked us so randomly, only to find that Kurogane had knocked most of them on their behinds. I missed out on all the fun.

A few of the men, however, were beginning to stand again and I readied my bow, only to be interrupted by someone else, this time not a blond, but he still looked like a magician, "Stop!" The man looked pale and frail, thin and rather wispy and very feminine for that matter, what with his light colored hair in a ponytail and bangs curling. His appearance was followed with much groveling at his feet as the people who had attacked us bowed to him calling him their master. That annoyed me for some reason.

"Souseki-sama! These intruders got inside the barrier! _Your_ barrier!"

As they made a fuss, Fye decided that it would be a wonderful idea to say, "We didn't get inside, we were dropped off in side! Though you wouldn't really understand even if I did explain it all the way."

The man called Souseki appeared nonchalant, the idea of people simply being dropped off inside his barrier not seeming to bother him in the slightest. Instead he simply continued smiling softly before making a slight bow, "Our people attacked you and were rude, I apologize."

"Aw, it's ok!" Fye shouted gleefully, wrapping one arm around my neck and the other around Kurogane's and nearly smacking our heads together, "These two look scary! They couldn't help but attack us!"

Next thing I know, we're sitting in a lavishly furnished room inside the shrine as Kurogane explained something about power and people who have it being in charge to Fye. I honestly stopped paying attention, I was too busy trying to ignore the strange looks I was drawing from the people who had attacked us earlier. I hate it when I can feel someone staring at me, or leering or whatever the hell it is they were doing, but I could and I wanted to hurt them for it. At least I did until Fye once again decided I was a toy and hugged me from behind, resting his chin on my head again as he asked Souseki about some magical spike to the left of us.

Just once I would like for Fye to behave as a normal human being, just _once_, but of course, it would never happen.

* * *

There is no excuse this time for why it took me so long to update.

I've just been _really_ lazy lately. However... when I got off my lazy arse to check my e-mail and saw a bunch of crap from (then took the time to clean out my inbox and realized just how many e-mails I get from this site) I decided I should finish writing the next chapter.

I didn't.

Instead I got distracted. Then, when I finally thought about it again, a song from the soundtrack come on iTunes and I took it as a sign, prepared myself, and started typing. I literally got about two hundred words done before something else distracted me =/

I either need an official nagger, or someone else has to write a Fye fanfic that can inspire me. v.v


	23. Hyuu

Souseki looked at Fye with wide eyes as the people who served him began to spout nonsense about him being a spy or something simply because he could feel magic. He was only a magician. I couldn't feel magic anymore. The curse had been the only magical thing about me and with that gone, there went all sensing of magic. That seriously meant Fye was the sole magic wielder of our group, how ironic was it that he refused to wield it? I found it highly ironic, but chose not to comment on it should it bring about an annoying conversation and more of a blond acting like a coat on a hanger.

"I guess I should tell you then," Souseki mused, standing and taking a few steps toward the door before signaling us to follow, "The story of our Guardian God, Yasha." I'm not entirely sure how, but Fye managed to remain in the same position as I stood, without hindering my movement or anything. Kurogane said nothing and I kept an unhappy scowl on my face. Something was seriously wrong with this blond magician if he was able to do that. With an inaudible sigh, I followed Kurogane and Souseki through the door and into the other room.

It wasn't actually another room, instead the door led outside to a short path that led up to a statue. The gray rock was worn away in places, but the detail was still visible. The statue was of a man with closed eyes, the right one was scared and dripping tears of blood. The thick red liquid dripped from the stone eyelid as Souseki began to explain that this time every year, when the Suzuranichiza returned the statue of Yasha would cry tears of blood. That was when surprised me with an intelligent question, "Every year starting which year?"

Who would have thought he was capable of intelligent thoughts? Okay, so I was being mean to him, but he had been hanging on my all day and I was getting uncomfortable. I pushed him off as Souseki answered, "It was long before I inherited the temple. My great grandfather was the founder and in his time he wrote how he thought Yasha's tears of blood were somehow connected to the Suzuranichiza. Ever since they have resided there, this has happened."

It might have just been me, but I thought it was a little odd to blame the bloody tears of the statue of your guardian God on someone else without any evidence other than a coincidental timing. I kept my mouth shut though, but Fye must have noticed the way I set my mouth into an annoyed frown because he arched one thin brow at me for a moment, as if waiting for some response. When I gave none, his attention was focused back on Souseki, who had mentioned the guardian God of the Suzuranichia, Ashura. Something seemed a little different about him for a moment, but as quickly as it appeared, it was covered by that empty smile once more.

Apparently Kurogane and Fye had gotten some information from someone while I was up in that tree because I didn't remember anyone saying anything about what they were talking about. Kurogane was glaring up at the statue, "Isn't Ashura the God of war in this country?"

Souseki nodded in confirmation before continuing his explanation, "It is said that Ashura is the God of war and bad luck. That when Yasha cries it is because he is trying to warn us that Ashura is calling upon the power of bad luck. When Ashura calls upon bad luck, it sends people to the Yellow River which Yasha guards. He does not want needless death, so he warns us."

This time I did open my mouth to say something, but as it were, before I could get any sound from my mouth, one of Souseki's goons came in and shouted loudly, "Souseki-sama! It's almost time for the ceremony!" The man nodded an excused himself, leaving me with my comment and no one to have a dignified to response to it. Closing my mouth with a sigh, I turned back to the dark swordsman and bright magician.

The blond grinned happily at me before speaking in a sing song tone, "I wonder if there are other reasons for this? Shii-pin is of the same opinion right?"

"I don't know who Shii-pin is." I muttered, glaring in the direction of the statue, wondering if perhaps something was wrong with it on the inside. Unfortunately I couldn't crack it open and find out, though I would have liked to.

We didn't get to talk much more; another goon came out to find us and led us back inside, showing us to a rather large room and saying they'd be back soon. I didn't like it, but the other two seemed to be perfectly fine with the odd way we were being treated, so I didn't say anything. We were in there for about ten minutes before some people came in with food and, unfortunately, alcohol. No water, so juice, just food and booze. I glared at the stinking beverages and glanced up at the man who had brought them, "Do you have water?"

"Excuse me?" the man asked, blinking in confusion at my question.

Fye grinned, draping his arms around me again, resting his chin on my head once more, "Shirai-rin doesn't drink!" The man raised an eyebrow at me in slight amazement, but shrugged and left the room, promising to find me something that wouldn't have and unwanted effects. As soon as the door slid shut, Fye relaxed a bit more, putting more of his weight on me, "Hyuu! I think I like that nickname for you best. Shirai-rin!"

"I don't understand why you let him do that." Kurogane sighed, leaning against a wall with a bottle of wine already open and in his hand. He took a small swig, eyes still on Fye and I, wondering what the hell was going on.

I sighed once and pushed the blond away from me once more and pulled the nearest plate of food into my lap, "I've given up on him stopping. All life as we know it could be ending in fifteen seconds and he would spend at least fourteen acting like that." As soon as the words left my mouth, I began chewing on a small piece of chicken that had been on the plate before me, ignoring the odd look Kurogane was giving me at the moment. I guess I really hadn't spoke that much before—other than when I was promising myself to give Mokona a slow death—and that might have shocked him. It hardly bothered me though and I continued to eat my fill, Kurogane soon following suit and Fye as well, eventually the blond also grabbed a bottle of wine and plopped himself down to my right. I cast him a sideways glare, "If that bottle comes within reach of me, I will kill you."

His smile never faltered, but never seemed any less fake. Before I would have thought him nothing more than a ridiculously happy man, but that had changed recently. Not just after he told he too had lost someone dear to him, but with Mokona's words back in Outo. Had that little bun not said anything about the man's sadness where I could coincidentally hear it, then I would have been no wiser than I was before. I always knew he was different from most people, but he'd never quite seemed sane and I just assumed that was what was so off about him. Fye had quite the defenses around him. Enough to fool most people, but not enough to fool those who had felt pain and suffering and tried to hide it as well. The insane, blonde magician could not hide it as well from Kurogane and I.

Kurogane however, was probably more suspicious of everyone than anyone could guess. He, like anyone else, could easily trust Sakura and Syaoran hadn't lied once, everything had always been about his princess. The swordsman had been distrustful of me since the first day. More so when he learned of my curse and twice as much when it was lifted and I was released from the anger binding me. For the most part. Fye still made me rather irritated with his antics, but it was nothing I couldn't handle without killing him, despite the threats.

A few moments later and the door opened again, the same man from earlier had returned with both tea and cold water. He left the tray and closed the door again, leaving the three of us to eat and the other two to get rather drunk. If Kurogane could get drunk.

* * *

We were in the middle of our meal when the entire building began to shake, spilling food and hot tea across the floor. Fye latched onto me during the shaking of the building and I yelled at him, but I went unheard, even by myself, over the sounds of the angry roaring of the people blaming the Suzuranichiza for the earthquake. When all the motion stopped, someone came in to check on us and ushered the three of us to another, cleaner room, giving them more alcohol as they did.

We sat in that room for the rest of the night, the other two drinking to their hearts content; Fye not meowing once. I looked over at the blond suspiciously when the birds began chirping outside, signaling the coming of dawn. I wasn't the only one either. Kurogane was glaring unhappily at the magician, probably thinking thinks along much the same lines as I. Finally Fye decided to break the suspicious silence, "Hyuu! We drank all night!" He received too suspicious glares in response, "Hmm? What is it Shirai-rin, Kuro-puu?"

Kurogane spoke first, "Was that all an act before?" his already narrow eyes narrowed a bit more, his demeanor becoming more and more suspicious of the blond. Fye tilted his head to the side questioningly, wondering what was going on, so Kurogane clarified, "In Outo, when you meowed all over the place."

"Oh! That was real!" he grinned, "But we weren't really drinking, that was all in the game!" he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"You won't speak truthfully, will you?"

"Maybe I will, what are we talking about now?"

I glared over at the blond, sighing at his antics. He might have spoken honestly if he didn't think teasing us was so much fun. Kurogane however, looked like he was going to blow a gasket, so I intervened before a certain blond could be laying strewn across the floor in a pool of his own blood, "When Ashura was mentioned earlier." I muttered, catching his full attention for just a moment before he returned to smiling like he always did, "You paled a bit and that smile of yours faltered." Fye's eyebrow arched up a fraction, "I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't been looking at me when Souseki said it."

"Why did you have that reaction?" Kurogane growled at the blond.

Fye's smile changed, it became more secretive, like he knew something neither of us did and wasn't going to answer the question because of it. The look was rather intriguing actually, the air of mystery suited the magician for some reason. I narrowed my eyes, what was I thinking? Why would I even consider if it suited him or not? What the hell was wrong with me? It must have been as I'd thought earlier; this group was a bad influence on my psyche. I would go insane if I stayed with them, but it seemed that was just how it was going to be though. I would be stuck with them and I would be insane. Oh, that was _wonderful_.

There was a knock at the door and Souseki opened it after Fye's too happy voice shouted for him to enter. The pale man looked around the room for a few seconds, eyes widening in awe at the mess Kurogane and Fye had made with the wine bottles. The only clean area seemed to be encircling me. Kurogane ignored our host and continued glaring darkly at Fye, completely ignoring Souseki's request for us to join him for breakfast. Fye agreed immediately, jumping at the chance to get away from out questioning.

As we followed him, I swore I heard Fye mumbling under his breath, "I didn't think he would notice, but he did."

I glanced at him, confused. Why would he be talking to himself when he must have known I was close enough to hear? Fye's smile was sad for a moment, before his blue eyes looked up at me, an unknown emotion playing through them for a fraction of a second before disappearing behind his eyelids and fake smile. It was as though he was trying to tell me something and I just wasn't getting the message. What was with this guy?

"Hyuu! Breakfast time!" He hummed, dancing away.

* * *

*~* There are probably typos throughout this, but when I saw that I had over 100 reviews for this story I was a little shocked and sat down on my lazy ass to get this out. Yes, I was once again distracted by Spider Solitaire, but that means NOTHING.

I would like to thank the following people in particular:

Nevvy: You give some rather inspiring reviews as I'm sure I've told you. Thanks for that =3 And just to make sure this is clear, yes, Kurogane smacking Shirai upside the head was for you xD

SpacePirateGirl: You have been dubbed the official fangirl of this story by my best friend (who thinks you're insane by the way)

GaarasMyBoyzz: For taking on the role of the official nagger in a rather humorous fashion xD

Honestly you three are probably the reason I don't forget about this story like I do _Two Kinds of Magic_, there isn't much inspiration coming from those reviewers anymore =/

I thought it would be nice to give you guys a little shout out =3


	24. Confusing

"Why are these so hard to use?" Fye whined, holding the eating utensils known as chopsticks upside-down; he was the only one using them incorrectly and I watched, hiding the amusement from my features. The one who acted like he knew everything was befuddled by eating sticks. In truth, I had never seen them before last night, when they brought my food, but Kurogane, in a rare moment of pure kindness, had taught me how to use them. While I still dropped my food on occasion, I wasn't using the ridiculous and inelegant stabbing motions that Souseki had just advised Fye to use. The blonde's face almost lit up as he stabbed at his food instead.

Kurogane gave the group magician a disdainful look, glaring almost directly at his hands. Chopsticks were something from his world as well and from the look on his face, it seemed like he viewed Fye's way of using them as a disgrace to the objects themselves. Before he could insult Fye, however, the door slid open quickly, beaten lackeys stumbling awkwardly in as they cried out for their lord.

"It was those guys from the Yuuka District!" one of them shouted. I let out an annoyed sigh; their ridiculous behavior was getting on my nerves. Hating a group of people just for what they believed in what like hating someone for where they came from. It was stupid and ridiculous. The one that had spoken continued, "There was this kid with an awesome kick!" the three of us looked up and glanced at each other for but a moment, wondering if it was Syaoran, "It was a girl too!"

The three of us returned to our food, it couldn't have been Syaoran. That kid wouldn't have dressed up as a girl no matter the circumstances so long as he was still with his princess. It would be too embarrassing for him to do that. I sighed again, setting my chopsticks down, full, my food half finished. Fye didn't let that slip by him, not at all, "Oh, Shirai-rin! You aren't going to finish?"

"I'm full." I replied bluntly as I politely pushed the tray a few inches further from me, just in time to avoid it from spilling on me as another earthquake shook the entire estate. Fye's tray fell toward him, but he backed up, avoiding the spill of wine and food from staining his light colored clothing. Kurogane simply threw the tray back rather than letting anything spill on him. As soon as the tremors subsided, Souseki looked around, obviously shaken from the sudden quake and stood up almost immediately, a little unbalanced as he did so.

As our host looked around uneasily, he muttered something about needed to check on the statue of Yasha. We stood and followed him out of the room, jogging in order to keep up with Souseki's almost sprint. The statue of Yasha was once again spilling tears of blood.

Then someone shouted, "There's a hole in the sky!"

I looked up in confusion and saw that they were correct, though they could have used a better term. It was more like there was a tear in the sky, as though someone had cut the cosmos with a knife, leaving it to split apart. Pure energy seemed to be swirling about in the tear, bright and more blinding than the sun. People shouted and screamed, blamed the travesty on Ashura. Only moments after the God of Violence's name was mentioned did another shout to have the statue of Ashura destroyed. I wanted to protest, but firmly kept my mouth closed, refusing to say anything about the statues. The people around were morons. What power could a statue, shaped rock and stone, have over the sky and earth? Unless that statue held one of Sakura's feathers, it was impossible and if that statue did hold one of those powerful objects holding the princess's memories, then someone would have discovered it and used the power of the feather for their own goals.

"Stop! I won't allow it!" Souseki shouted over the chaos, "I will not allow you to destroy the statue of Ashura. More importantly, what has caused this? And what will happen after!" the young man then disappeared into his manor once again, probably to look for answers elsewhere. His followers didn't look too happy about their master's decision, but they stayed put, obviously postponing any plans of destroying private property.

Kurogane looked at Fye and murmured, "Think this has anything to do with the princess's feathers?"

Fye shrugged, still smiling, though slightly diminished, "I don't know, but on the other side of the sky, I sense a very powerful force."

We turned back to the statue of Yasha, looking at the stone's scarred face and wondering just what was going on, but we could still feel it, the power flowing into the world from whatever was beyond the sky, the pure, destructive force that would lay waste to anything in its way. "I can feel the very presence of death itself." Kurogane growled from my left, his hand on the hilt of his blade. I readied my bow again, adjusting the string, but leaving all my remaining arrows in the quiver strapped to my back. Fye's smile disappeared.

Swirling smoke appeared around our feet, flowing up our legs, "We're moving again?" I asked quietly, wondering if we would end up in the same place as the others, if we would end up in the same _world_ as Mokona, Syaoran and Sakura.

* * *

_Where are we?_ I wondered, looking around. All I saw was a battlefield, people dying, laying wounded, severed limbs lying strewn on the ground, several feet away from their possible bodies. Kurogane said something, but I didn't understand him. Neither did Fye apparently. After I gave the swordsman a relatively confused look, he said something in a tone that indicated swearing, and I assumed we were too far away from Mokona to understand each other anymore. Someone else shouted and I turned around quickly, ducking a swipe from a mounted swordsman. As soon as I dropped low enough to avoid his attack, I lined up an arrow and let it fly, sending the projectile right into the man's dominant hand, he let out a pained cry as he dropped his weapon and retreated moments later.

A slight weight on my right shoulder caused me to turn again, Fye had placed his hand on me, smiling as fake as ever and lightly tugged on my bow, as though he wished to take it from me. With an annoyed sigh, I handed the weapon to him and slid my quiver from my shoulder, handing that to him as well. He nodded his thanks and I picked up the recently dropped sword. It was long and wide, weighing more than I would have liked it to, but apparently Fye seemed to think he would wield the bow better than the sword. After a moment, I dropped the sword; it would be exhausting to lug the ridiculous weapon around through a battle we didn't see an end to.

The heavy weapon fell to the ground with a _clunk_ and I removed several small knives from my sleeves; the same ones that Kurogane had bought for me in Outo. We stayed in the same spot for as long as we could, only attacking those who came at us first, until after nearly an hour of fighting, someone else approached us, sword ready to attack, but still. The man looked like the statue of Yasha. Apparently I wasn't the only one who'd noticed. For a moment, nothing moved near us, but, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flicker of movement and shoved Fye to the side, causing an arrow to narrowly miss his head. In the split second after the arrow flew by, I planted my feet, regained my balance and threw a knife in the direction the arrow had come from. A pained cry sounded as did the light thumping sound of something hitting the ground.

Casting a suspicious glance back at the men still silently watching us, I walked over to the area that my knife had been thrown in. The area was now empty, but a bow lay on the ground, surrounded by hoof prints and my knife, bloodied, but whole. I picked up my own weapon, wiped it on my pantleg and hoisted the bow up as well. It was smaller than my own, made for a mounted archer, someone atop a moving object or thing. I returned the group. Now one of the men was speaking rapidly to Kurogane in a language I didn't understand, but that Kurogane seemed to. Another watched me cautiously upon my return as I gently pulled my bow from Fye's hands and handed him the one I'd picked up a few moments before. He gave me a smile, but I ignored him.

I looked back over at Kurogane, one of the men he was speaking to looked from Kurogane to me and back again multiple times, then casting a confused glance at Fye and pointing at the blond as he said something else. The man who looked like Yasha nodded once, said something else and then Kurogane was motioning for us to follow him. With a light sigh, I followed, Fye not too far behind me, smile still in place.

* * *

My eye twitched, I swear it did. We had somehow ended up in a marketplace, Kurogane doing all the talking for us, while Fye continued to use me like a coat-rack, draping himself over my shoulders and almost forcing me to carry him through the busy streets. Only a few hours after we'd met those men on the battlefield, were we in some strange kingdom and Kurogane had put his finger to his lips, trying to tell us that we were not supposed to talk here. If we were ever able to converse again, I would have to ask what lie he told those people. The moment we were off the battlefield, they directed us to a city and left us there, as though we were no longer important. Not that we were in the first place. With another incredibly annoyed sigh, I pushed the blond away from me. Waiting for Kurogane to finish buying whatever it was he was buying from whoever it was he was getting it from.

Someone else approached me, standing in an almost arrogant posture and started talking. From their tone, I could assume they were either complimenting me or complimenting themselves. I gave the man a blank stare, wondering what he was actually saying, when Kurogane finished up what he was doing and proceeded to say something in a rude tone to the man who had been speaking to me. There was some rude sounding responses, angry motioning, then the man looked from me to Kurogane and back again multiple times, a look of confusion on his face until Kurogane said something else.

_What the hell is he telling these people?_ I wondered, raising a thin brow at the much taller swordsman who simply shook his head at my look. It wasn't like he'd be able to answer me anyway.

We continued on our way for a while, entering a rather large building that looked rather plain. I assumed it was some form of a government building and was proven right when Kurogane motioned for Fye and I to walk forward and sign some papers almost identical to what he was signing at that moment as well. As soon as we gave the papers to the man in charge, he looked at me funny and Kurogane once again launched into an unknown explanation. Finally Kurogane took a stack of the man's unsigned papers, crumpled them into a ball and placed them on his head, dragging me to the other side of the room and making a sloppy movement of fitting an arrow to a bowstring and firing.

I understood. Kurogane wanted me to aim for the crumpled ball of paper on the man's head. I could only assume that a small dispute about my gender had risen and we were joining the army that had been fighting that battle earlier. I sighed, but took a deep breath, took my stance, aimed a little lower than needed and fired.

Go figure that the man would duck almost immediately after I loosed the arrow. Kurogane barked something out, but it hardly mattered. Even from the other side of the room I could see the man sweating like a pig, he looked frightened, I had assumed he would duck and aimed accordingly. The ball of paper was pinned to the wall behind him, my arrow in the center.

I was going to make Kurogane teach me some of the words in his language sometime. It would probably make things easier should we all get separated from Mokona again. Especially since it had already happened twice, I had no doubt that it would happen again, eventually.

* * *

Arista Lycoris: I know it took me a really long time to post, but in my defense: I have recently started up with college ._.

It's not difficult yet, I actually have complaints about how _stupid_ my teachers are. They don't qualify as professor's in my mind.

Anyways, it's time consuming and tiring. I've also recently gotten an under-the-table job and work two days a week. I go to school two days a week, work two days a week. I get on day off outside of the weekends and I prefer to be out with friends on those days =/

However, since my math class is an epic fail, I do have plans to write in that classroom. Probably working on the next six months of this story =3 Since I don't need to look at the manga for important references for that.

About this chapter. There wasn't much talking, I know. But I do have plans MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I will try to update next week =3


	25. Lost in Translation

It's one thing to not understand anything anyone is saying to you, but it's another, much more annoying thing, when people are bowing to you as you pass and saying things you don't understand. We'd been in this country for about two months, seen two relatively bloody battles and Kurogane had spoken with King Yasha one multiple occasions. Tonight, we were in the castle again, having practically moved there after the first time on the battlefield. Over our two month stay in this place that I still did not have a name for, I had begun picking up on little bits and pieces of the language they were speaking. I couldn't understand full sentences, or speak the language back to them, but I could tell when they were speaking to me, Fye, or Kurogane, and I could understand when someone was inviting us to dinner; we'd been asked so many times that it would have been difficult _not_ to figure it out.

Neither Fye nor I had spoken a word since our arrival and we still did not know what lies Kurogane had told the people and king of the country about us and after two months in the same place, without sufficient ability to understand each other, I was beginning to wonder if we would ever actually leave this place, but I couldn't ask anyone that because… well I didn't speak the right language to ask.

I frowned, not just because of the confusing nature of my thoughts, but because a certain blond was once again strewn across my shoulders, leaning on me as we walked down the hall, following in Kurogane's footsteps. I had reason to believe we were dining with King Yasha, again. We'd done so once a week since the first battle we'd taken part in and it wasn't as fun as one might think. I sat between Fye and Kurogane, the tall swordsman gruffly did all our talking while Fye and I pretended to know what was going on, but never made a sound.

I really wanted to know what was being said, but I resigned myself to confused silence, staring blankly at my own food and occasionally glancing up to meet the eyes of the King's attendants with a scowl rivaling Kurogane's. The time, I met the eyes of the King himself with my glare. Food was piled high on my place, everyone else had finished eating, but I'd barely touched my food; I just wasn't hungry. That, however, didn't translate well.

A thought entered my mind, one that I would haven't been capable off during the time I was cursed, but apparently after two months of having too much time to think, I was capable of such thoughts. I decided to act on that thought, doing something I had once done to my brother as a child. So I made a surprised face and pointed to the other side of the room. Everyone followed my finger, looking for whatever I had been pointing at and as they did, I was content with dumping all the food remaining on my plate, onto the empty one in front of Kurogane. When everyone turned back, giving me confused looks, Kurogane noticed the lack of food on my plate and the presence of it on his own and glared at me while one of the King's men let out a deep bark of laughter and said something to Kurogane.

Fye smiled over at me, while I resumed my usual blank face and waited for the dinner to end. When it finally did, Kurogane proceeded to murmur under his breath unhappily, glaring at me occasionally. His anger didn't bother me; it wasn't as though he could tell me off. Well, he could, but there was no way for me to know what he was saying. He knew that, but I highly doubted he would let it go. Whenever we were able to understand each other again, Kurogane was sure to bring up my lack of an appetite, but of course I would be determined to discover what lies he was telling people.

We returned to our rooms and I stared at the wall for a while, thinking. Here I was in some unknown world, with no way of understanding the two people I was there with and I had just treated one the same way I used to treat my brother. I felt sick for a moment as the realization hit me like the wall I was staring at; was I trying to replace Kai with Kurogane? The feeling passed after a few moments, but the thought remained in my mind; I couldn't do that to my brother.

* * *

"_Shirai! Come here!"_

_ "Kai? What are yo—I'm not jumping out the window!"_

_ "Come on! I'll catch you."_

_ "But…"_

_ "You don't trust me?"

* * *

_

Memories of him flew through my mind and I recalled just how much I missed my brother, just how much I had loved him. He'd saved me in more ways than one, but he was gone, murdered by Hariin, the man Kurogane and Fye had helped me kill in order to remove the curse he'd placed on me. Why had they helped me? Because they cared? But why? The thoughts that plagued my mind since the curse had been lifted returned. Did they have a reason to care about me? Did they need one?

Why had I tried to avenge Fye when I'd thought he'd died in Outo? Why did I want to know why he was only pretending to be happy? Did I need a reason? Was it because we were traveling together? Perhaps, but for some reason the word "friendship" came to mine and I found myself wondering if the relationship I had with Fye, Kurogane, Syaoran and Sakura was called friendship. No one seemed to know too much about anyone else, but Kurogane, Fye and Syaoran had all tried to protect me when we encountered Hariin, I'd tried to protect Fye in Outo and now Kurogane was doing what he could to keep these people from discovering that Fye and I didn't speak, let alone understand their language.

Friendship huh? A real one, that would be destroyed at the first sign of danger. It was a strange realization to come to, especially after so much time had passed, but it did help me realize that they didn't just care about each other and me, I cared about them, however involuntarily it may have begun. Maybe Fye had noticed I was beginning to understand and that was why he acted the way he had been. He hadn't hung himself on me like I was his personal coat rack in almost a week.

* * *

The thin armor I wore was being tied securely in the back by Kurogane as Fye fitted the strange creatures that looked like reptilian horses with saddles. A pat on my shoulder indicated the Kurogane had finished tying my armor and I turned to nod my thanks to him. He nodded back, the small motion being one of the few ways we could all communicate, it was easily understood, but it couldn't substitute for too much. I checked the string for my bow along with a few spares I'd thought to bring along should the one snap after too much use. When I finished, I stood up and moved to gather the large quiver filled with arrows that would be attached the saddle of my strange mount when a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me back. I was ready to elbow whoever was touching me in the abdomen, but I stopped when I felt the familiar weight of a certain mage's chin on my shoulder.

I cast him an unhappy glare and pushed his hands away from me since I couldn't just snap at him and ask what the hell he thought he was doing. The happy blond moved around a little bit, picked me up and placed me in the saddle of the creature I was supposed be taking out to battle with me. I scowled at him, noting that out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kurogane watching with an almost bemused smirk on his face, as though he thought this were funny. Something was wrong with that. It might have just been the small fact that I didn't believe Kurogane could laugh or smile; which wasn't entirely fair to him, what if he couldn't? There had been a time when _I_ couldn't; but I was also beginning to wonder if there was a slight change in their personalities due to the fact that we couldn't vocally communicate. It was also a long shot, but maybe it had something to do with the fact that our eyes were changing color. My eyes, having already been a dark green, were now black, Fye's eyes were a deep blue, getting closer to black every day and Kurogane's still had a red tint to them.

This whole country was insane.

We left the barn our mounts had been stored in, ready to go to battle for the third time and followed Kurogane to the front lines, where we ended up positioned near King Yasha himself. _Go figure,_ I thought half heartedly, keeping a neutral look on my face, _I think we managed to get promoted to generals at least. How… how did we end up being the strongest people in this freaking country after three months? This is ridiculous._ I frowned slightly, distancing myself from those thoughts and paying attention to the soldiers that filed in; each and every one of them had black eyes. So it was something about this country after all. It really was insane.

The King shouted out a short speech to his army, one that was lost upon Fye and myself, but I did hear our names in that speech of the King's somewhere. I didn't know what he was saying, but I knew he was saying something about us. For some reason I immediately thought it was something bad, but that always happens when someone knows they're being spoken about, but they don't know what is being said. Fye had probably come to the same conclusion, but if he did, that too was hidden behind the omnipresent smile of the mysterious mage.

Go figure that when all communication has to be made through action, I'd get stuck with the fake and the angry one. It was suitable though, after all, I was probably considered the stoic one in this strange group.

I didn't let out an annoyed sigh until we set foot upon the battlefield, but of course it went unheard over the cacophonous war cries of the army. Once again we battled with the clan that played enemy to those under Yasha and as always, I remained close to Fye and Kurogane, the three of us appearing to be an unbeatable team. Kurogane looked like he did the most work, when in fact he simply had to move more, when we moved, just as many fallen soldiers had been struck with the arrows fit with black feathers as they had arrows with white feathers or obvious sword wounds.

Fye fired off white feathered arrows from atop his mount while I jumped down and attacked those who were hard for Kurogane to get to as the swordsman kept any armed with blades away from the two of us. It was a simple strategy, but one that served us well considering the lack in conversational skills.

Kurogane lunged forward, taking down another swordsman and sending his riderless mount into a frightened rampage, spooking any less stoic mounts as it went. The mage loosed an arrow an arrow from his own rearing war steed. The frenzy of battle continued. Most people don't know this, but when in a fight that includes two sides clashing for their own wants and beliefs, everything happens so quickly that it's hard to remember exactly what happened afterward. Certain things from the beginning and end stand out clearly, as well as a few moments that seem key to the combatant.

Hours passed like that, the only thing I kept track of was how many arrows I had left and whether or not we were still battling; we were. However, the fighting would soon come to an end, both sides were exhausted and Fye was not the only one running low on his signature arrows. A loud grunt sounded behind me, barely heard over the din of battle and I whirled around to face a dying enemy soldier, armed with a spear, the tip of a sword poking through his chest, cloaked with a sheen of deep crimson. Kurogane stood behind the man for a moment, smirking at me as he removed his sword from the dead soldier's carcass. Half a second passed and I lined up an arrow and it flew passed Kurogane's shoulder, likely whistling in his ear before sticking in the throat of another enemy soldier in a fountain of red gore. This time, I smirked at the swordsman, whose eyes had narrowed slightly before he turned as saw that he too had been snuck up on.

Then he gave me what could only be describe as an appreciative glance, it was strange really. He looked happy and angry all at once and it was both confusing and difficult to describe, as strange as Fye looking sad; needless to say that gratitude wasn't something Kurogane showed often.

I didn't spent much time trying to decipher the look on Kurogane's face, the warring clans were regrouping and so I swung myself back up on my mount and followed Kurogane.

The battle was over.

* * *

Upon our return, Yasha made another speech, once again saying names I recognized as ours and we were able to disperse. It was finally time to wash away the sweat, grime, blood and dirt that had accumulated over the course of battle. Bathing was a wondering thing.

* * *

**So... it took me a _really_ long time to update. I know and I think you should know that I don't have any excuse. I just didn't want to work on it. For some reason, last night, I thought of writing something, but it wasn't this. I was going to write something else, but I felt that I should update for you guys since you wait so patiently. And I didn't want you thinking this story was going to be discontinued .-. It's not. Obviously.**

**Anyways, thanks for the reviews and here is chapter 25! I'm honestly amazed that it's gotten this far ._.  
**


	26. Irritated

**Arista: Yeah. I know. It took me forever .-. And it's short .-.**

* * *

I was beginning to wonder if we would ever be reunited with Syaoran and Sakura, oh and Mokona too. It was irritating to still be surrounded by people whom I didn't understand, despite having picked up a bit more of Kurogane's language in the last month. We still dined once a week with King Yasha, the other nights we were generally escorted to the house of some other important figure and dined with them. Rarely was there a night where we didn't eat with someone in the King's Court. It seemed as though everyone wanted to be on good terms with the country's generals. Somehow, Kurogane still found the time to lead Fye and I to the cafeteria in which the army ate.

Sitting amidst the raucous laughter of military men was just as uncomfortable for me as dining with the king. I would have preferred to eat in my quarters and not have to deal with the world, but then I was of the mind that meal time was for eating, not for idle conversation and the spewing of previously edible foods. I liked to eat and be done with it. Kurogane must have decided that eating with the soldiers would do something, but what it might do or prove was something I was clueless about. However, we still sat with them. Many crowded around Kurogane who didn't say much, but at the same time, said more than either Fye or I did.

Even through the loud guffaws and cacophony of other sounds, I still heard the chair on my right being pulled out. With an annoyed glance, I saw a man who was so red in the face he could be likened to a tomato. I turned back to my food, annoyed. Tomato face was on my right, Fye on my left, surrounded by noise, it was irritating and all I could do not to hurt the people around me.

A few of the men around Kurogane glanced up when they saw Tomato take a seat next to me and one or two whispered something to the tall samurai who then looked over as well, an eyebrow raised, brow furrowed for only a moment. I met his eyes with my usual, unhappy, irritated look, not quite glaring at anyone, but ready to given a second's notice. Out of all the people in the hall, hell in the country, it seemed that only Kurogane had figured out that I didn't like dealing with people. I had joined their group because Yuuko had asked it of me and stayed because they had done all they could to help me, despite the fact that I was incapable of caring for them.

Kurogane said something and the tomato next to me jumped slightly, looking over and saying something that I assumed to be the equivalent of a stuttered, "Yes sir!" Whatever Kurogane said next reddened the man's face even more and brought about bellows of laughter from the men surrounding him. I glared at my plate in annoyance, half my meal still there, but I had once again lost my appetite. No, I was not anorexic, there was nothing wrong with my digestive system and it wasn't that I had been given too much food. Simply being around people who I did not know was generally enough to take the edge of any amount of hunger I might have felt.

I stood, my chair scraping against the stone as I did so. Taking up my tray, I walked away from the table, my shoulders felt tense with annoyance; there was a small pressure behind my eyes, a sign of the oncoming headache that I would need to take care of before it exploded into a pounding head pain. A nearly complete lack of noise would do that, so long as Fye didn't deign it necessary to follow me and make sure I didn't get lost; not that either of us didn't know where everything was after having spent so long in the castle.

This time though, Kurogane got up instead, of course, he was followed by Fye shortly afterward, but the blond did remain at the table, smiling slightly at everyone there, but saying nothing. He came up on my right, frowning down at my plate and giving me a rather displeased look. He thought I was starving myself. I ignored the look to the best of my ability and disposed of the tray and its contents, stalking out of the cafeteria area shortly afterward. Kurogane kept up with me, giving me a look that clearly stated he would be telling me off if I could understand even half of what he was saying. I returned the look with a droll stare.

Someone shouted Kurogane's name and the moment he turned to see who it was, I continued on my way. He had given me the same look that Kai used to when I didn't finish eating. It didn't make any sense. Why were they so similar? Physically Kai had looked nothing like Kurogane _and_ my brother had been a lively trouble maker, jumping around all the time, a grin plastered on his face even when he jumped out the window and headed into the streets. Our parents had told us time and again that outside was no place for us, we were better than the dirty peasants, but Kai thought otherwise and eventually convinced me otherwise. People were all people. Maybe that was why he and Kurogane seemed similar. Despite the new ranking as General, the swordsman still sat down with the infantrymen, he still conversed with them. Sure he didn't play-fight with them, but no one was stupid enough to get in a childish wrestling match with the tallest person they knew.

I had never properly grieved for my brother and that made comparing him to Kurogane much more difficult. On some level I might have wanted to replace Kai with Kurogane, just so it would seem like I'd never lost my brother to Hariin. Then again… I didn't just lose my brother to Hariin. My parents had taken Kai from me as well, they refused to let me grieve for my dead brother and even sent me off to get married to the bastard who's killed him. The curse had been placed on me not long after Kai's death and it didn't take much longer for me to leave my world, to find a way to Yuuko and be placed elsewhere.

My right hand found my left arm, but I refused to cradle it, the curse was gone, most of my hatred and pain had dissipated with it, but… there was nothing to take the sadness.

I needed to stop grieving.

Kai would have smacked me upside the head for being so depressed.

I stumbled forward when something came in contact with the back of my head and turned quickly, glaring at none other than Kurogane, who was, with perfect timing, doing exactly what Kai would have done. Why were they so damned similar?

* * *

**So anyways, this chapter was going to end up different when I first started it, but then I took a break from writing fan fics for a little while only because I got distracted with school work and some other things. So, it became a slight expansion on how Kurogane and Kai are similar. I hadn't planned that either .-.**

**I had created the character Kai a LONG time ago, way before Shirai, as a minor character in something that I never finished. He ended up being a really cool character, but at the same time he's difficult to write with. That's kind of why he'd dead and there are only a few references to him lol ^-^'**

**I will try to make the next chappy much much longer! I has a plan!  
**


	27. Woodpecker

Whether or not Kurogane and my deceased brother Kai were ridiculously similar (although one much angrier and unsmiling than the other) I couldn't think of them as the same person. Kurogane was Kurogane. Kai had been Kai. And now I couldn't help but notice the subtle differences between the two, not including the obvious physical differences. Kurogane wasn't open about anything, he was rarely obvious, but one could tell that he cared, about Fye and I at least. If Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona were here then one would be able to tell he cared about them as well, but like Fye and I, he was doing a damn good job about hiding his real motives for joining this country's army. He didn't leave out side on the battlefield, not because we made a perfect team, but because Fye and I were not the experienced fighter he was, we had opening and Kurogane guarded those for us, even though he didn't have to.

Kai had been obvious about everything, but only the people that knew him were able to tell that he had been practically transparent. To the rest of the world he'd been confusing. Kai had looked for adventure, adventure found Kurogane. People were drawn to both of them, but people looked to Kurogane for advice about fighting, or just for a fight. People had gone to Kai for help, guidance or a laugh, never to harm him, no one had ever felt the need to prove themselves to my brother; except me.

Kurogane always walked with purpose, despite the lazy slouch that hid his actually ridiculous height and reach from others. Kai had been the opposite, looking important and purposeful, but walking with a slow lope. Kai had never been much of a fighter, he'd loved peace and freedom whereas Kurogane would fight before he'd even think of negotiating.

I didn't really need to remind myself of the differences, I wouldn't have ever thought of the two of them as the same person, but obviously I hadn't been acting like myself around Kurogane simply because he'd reminded so much of my brother. It wasn't fair of me to become all pessimistic and upset every time he did something my brother would have done; and I didn't appreciate all the smacks to the head.

* * *

Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned to glare at… the red faced man from the army cafeteria? He was just as red in the face as he had been before and I wondered if he had a fever; was he ill? He'd better not get me sick.

He started to speak, stumbling over the words like a foreigner and this was an eight language, he sounded sort of like I would have, had I attempted to speak the few words I knew. Strangely though, he was a native and his tone more nervous than the disgruntled confusion foreign languages tended to bring out. Too bad I didn't know any of the words he was forcing out or I would have made the most suitable expression, instead I retained my usual, unhappy glare and it would have stayed on my face too, had arms not wrapped around my waist from behind, forcing me to take a bewildered step backwards, ready to elbow the attacker in the abdomen until a familiar weight settled on my shoulder. I sent Fye an annoyed look. Red Face stopped talking, or vocally stumbling, his mouth audibly snapping shut, dark eyes wide.

The blond on my shoulder took one look at Red Face, then raised an eyebrow at me questioningly. I shrugged, the red faces man never had gotten to the point, his tone had been enough for me to tell. Red Face looked at Fye for a few moments before his eyes flicked to my face, then back to Fye, then to mine again, then to Fye and then behind us. Fye removed himself from my person as Kurogane's gruff voice sounded his arrival and finally Red Face ran off. What had all that been about?

Glancing up at Kurogane told me that the swordsman was not happy, but that wasn't strange. We'd been in this strange world for about five months and there was no sign of Syaoran, Sakura or Mokona. We were all wondering if we'd be stuck on Yasha's world forever and we didn't need to vocally understand each other to know that. I wanted to get moving and obviously, so did Kurogane and Fye, we all had our reasons. Kurogane wanted to get back to his homeworld, Fye didn't want to stay anywhere for too long and I was tired of being stuck in this strange place with its strange language and fighting for an unknown reason that was probably as strange as everything else.

Kurogane motioned for Fye and I to follow him, so we did and ended up at the armory where quivers stocked full of arrows were handed to Fye and myself. It was time to fight again. That meant the tight fitting armor would soon be strapped on, our odd mounts prepped and weapons ready so we could stand before a massive army with pre-battle jitters as their king gave a small speech and be on our way to Death's playground. What fun!

* * *

No sooner had we set foot on the battlefield than I wanted to get off and e done with it. I wasn't scared, not with Kurogane and Fye, hell I wouldn't have been scared if I was by myself, but it was hard to fight when I didn't know what I was fighting for. Of course, it made sense that, since the battlefield had been where we'd ended up, that Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona would end up there as well, so it only made sense to keep coming back. But people died here, by our hand and we didn't even believe in what we were fighting for. That made us nothing more than common murderers, here for the kill, even though we were looking for two people and a fluff ball that we'd seen neither hide nor hair of. I was beginning to wonder if we would _ever_ find them.

Kurogane and I didn't stay on our strange horses (that weren't really horses) for very long. My bow was much too large to use from a mounted position.

The battle began much as all do, with dissonant howls of bloodlust and rage, two forced rolled forward, like two giant waves crashing into one another, their meeting recognized by a geyser of red gore. People began to die. I tried not to think about it too much and followed Kurogane, with Fye covering our backs as he always did.

War was never pretty and while I hadn't seen my fair share of total warfare before a deluded prince messed with my emotions, there was still a lot of training to be done for it. All the noble families in my world were required to have at least one year in military service, but because we were nobles and couldn't bother getting our own hands dirty, we trained in strategies. Anything that could be done to keep us from seeing real battle, was. We served during peace time, or behind the scenes where no harm could possibly come to us. Then I was cursed. I hadn't seen war during that time either, but because of the new violent nature the curse had instilled, I was sent off to the borders where other countries thought they could take some of our land while we were distracted with the prince's wedding ceremony. Not that it actually happened.

One thing I knew though, if only from fighting with this group since the curse was lifted, was that it was ten times harder to fight a war than a battle solo. The entire time we fought, Kurogane and I watched each other's backs and Fye's as well, we all did what we could to cover the openings of the others, it was why we made such an unbeatable team.

I knocked arrow after arrow, lining up the shot so quickly it didn't even look like I took the time to aim, and lately I hadn't. With all the fighting, I had been practicing nonstop, whether on the battlefield or off. My skill with a bow had grown exceptionally, something I was proud of. I hadn't been that bad before, in fact archery was what I had focused on when I was younger. I was already practiced, but application made one's skills grow immensely and while that didn't show in Kurogane's already perfected sword skills, but it showed in both mine and Fye's archery.

The magician, while slower than I, was lining up shots with record speed and shooting them off with precision that none of Yasha's soldiers would ever meet. The fighting continued, never ending, but we weren't stupid, after a period of time, Yasha's soldiers would pull back and send out fresh ones, but so did the opposing army. It was a good strategy, allow people to rest.

A rallying whoop sounded, the three of us were needed with Yasha. Go figure. Fye's 'horse' danced around for a moment as Kurogane and I swung ourselves up onto our own with little difficulty and yanked the reins, directing the creature to the king we were supposedly serving. We found him; he and his mount on a cliff, overlooking the carnage below.

We brought our mounts up alongside his, Fye on his left, Kurogane and I on his right.

"This night's battle is about to end." Yasha spoke and I understood. I fought to keep the surprise and confusion from my face, acting like I always did and it wasn't as easy as I would have liked it to be, but then I hadn't been expecting to understand hi,. The simple that I could meant one thing: Mokona was here somewhere. However, I didn't plan on making a show out of looking for the manju and the kids, so I followed Yasha's gaze, knowing he would be looking at none other than Ashura, the king of the opposing army. I thought Ashura was a woman, making the title 'queen' but unless the term for royalty was unisex, then they were calling Ashura a man.

But near Ashura's feet were… I narrowed my eyes, children? No… one was Sakura, Mokona in her arms and the other was… Syaoran? Dressed as a girl? What the he—

Then we were back in Yasha's country, his castle looming ahead of us. But no Syaoran, Sakura or Mokona. Since we'd gone through the portal while separated, I guess it would make sense that the three of them wouldn't end up with the three of us, they were probably in Ashura's country. That made things so much easier. At least we didn't have to worry about any sudden speaking abilities, if Kurogane had been telling the people of Yasha's kingdom we couldn't talk that is.

I frowned all the way back to the armory, where I was helped out of my armor by whoever was close and able to reach the ties on my back, the ones that I couldn't reach without looking both ridiculous and pained.

It seemed like Syaoran and Sakura had appeared on the battlefield for the first time, their clothing wasn't the same as Ashura's military uniform and Syoaran was dressed as a girl for heaven's sake. WITH A WIG! I probably wouldn't have thought it so ridiculously strange had the effects of my curse not had five more months to wear off while I was unable to speak and thus lost in thought for most of my stay in Yasha's country.

Now, however, it seemed like we wouldn't be spending too much time here, perhaps another month or two. Then it would be more likely that Syaoran and Sakura would find the feather we hadn't really been looking for and it would all be done with, the six (including Mokona) of us on our way to yet another world. Hopefully one that didn't house absolutely ridiculous people, creatures, or lizard like horses and preferably one that wasn't at war.

I was getting sick of fighting.

* * *

**It's been a while since my last update, for this story anyways. I recently updated my D N Angel fic though =3**

**My first college semester is about to end, I only have to go to class two more times and take me finals. I expect them to be easy... Especially since the first semester isn't all its cracked up to me when the school won't let you skip classes through AP credits until you have a certain amount of credits with them -_-**

**Meaning I'm in a history class that I don't need to take. I know more than my moronic teacher . Both important and unimportant facts for that matter -sigh-**

**Anyways, here's chapter twenty-seven! If the title confuses you, good, it's supposed to xD**


	28. Author's Note

Due to a severe creative shortage, I'm going to go through all my stories and either re-write them chapter by chapter, or go through and fix the typos. I will be posting this message in all the chapter stories I have up here.

Here is the order in which I will be editing/rewriting.

1. Promises

2. Silence is No Virture

3. Two Kinds of Magic

4. Blade Chord

There won't be any major changes (that I know of at the moment) to the characters or the overall story, but maybe a little bit added here and there, something taken out every now and then etc.

Hopefully everything will read better when I'm done.

~ A. Lycoris


	29. Notice

I have decided that... correcting a few typos is not enough. After looking back I realized that I didn't actually plan anything in this story until much later on and so most of the beginning needs to be rewritten entirely.

Thus, this version will be discontinued and I will have the same story, edited, rewritten and cleaned up posted as: "Silence Is Not Golden"

Or "Silence Isn't Golden" but that depends on whether or not FF decides to be like some sites and show it as "Isn/'t"

I am almost done with the first chapter and shall have it posted later tonight. The chapter titles will also change.

~ A. Lycoris


	30. Japan

This will also go up in all my stories.

I'm sure many of you know what has recently befell Japan. The earthquake and tsunami caused mass destruction and stole many lives from us. Friend and family are suffering, even if they are not your own. Entire cities have been destroyed and there's even a threat of radiation from a damaged nuclear plant.

I, for one, have no money to donate even though I would dedicate entire paychecks to helping out those people in need. However! There is a way you can help even if you don't have money. There is a group on YouTube who filmed and posted a video of themselves standing in Los Angeles with signs reading: "Honk if you love Japan" and all manner of other supportive messages. Within about an hour (I think) they got enough honks to donate $600 to Japan _**AND**_ for every 1,000,000 views this video gets, they will donate another $600. Since I can't donate directly, it's all I can do to make this video known.

Here's the link: .com/watch?v=cciUXpITsu0

Thank you and please support Japan.

~ A. Lycoris


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